RWBY reads Death March
by MrFoxHoundSir
Summary: Teams RWBY and JNPR read the web novel Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku.
1. Reading 1 - 1

Hey Guys, this is something I've been thinking of doing for a while now. I don't know if this type of story is even allowed so I'll wait for a month or two before even thinking of posting a second chapter.

If you follow any of my other stories please read the note at the end of the chapter.

* * *

(START)

Team RWBY and team JNPR sighed collectively as they sat together in team RWBY's room. "You know…I kind of miss reading that book with Mr. Fox." Jaune stated in a bored tone as he listlessly flipped through the pages of a comic book.

Ruby flinched slightly at the reminder. "Jaune…you know we can't…" she mumbled sadly as the others in the room winced.

Pyrrha nodded her head sadly. "It was unfortunate what happened…" she began trying to find the right words. "But did he not send us off with a smile on his face?" she questioned getting a nod from Blake who set her book down to join the conversation.

"He knew what would happen, he even warned us that the result would be the same regardless of what we did." She stated rather bluntly getting warning looks from Yang. "At the very least we made it painless for him."

Ruby sighed sadly. "I guess you're right." She mumbled. Her musings were cut off as someone knocked on their door. "Who could that be?" she wondered aloud

Weiss the closest to the door got up and opened it to see who it was. "Huh…no one's there?" she muttered in confusion as she looked around. Glancing down she saw a letter addressed to both teams. Picking it up, she looked it over before her eyes widened.

"Who was it?" Nora called out bouncing around restlessly.

"Nora calm down." Ren chided her simply as he placed a hand on her arm. He smiled softly when she nodded happily and sat still.

"It's from a Mr. Fox…" Weiss stated showing them the letter. Everyone's eyes widened slightly as Yang jumped up and grabbed the letter from Weiss' hands ignoring the white themed girl's indignant shout. "Dear Teams RWBY and JNPR you are hereby invited to a reading session hosted by Fox. If you wish to attend please sign below."

Do you think…?" Yang asked looking around the room.

"I say we do it." Nora declared with a dangerous grin on her face. "If this guy is trying to prank us then we break his legs!"

"I'm tempted to agree with Nora." Pyrrha stated looking cross. "To use the name of the dead in a prank is not something one without malicious intent does."

Ruby looked at her teammates as Jaune and Ren seemed to agree with the girls of their team. "What do you guys think?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"I say we do it." Blake declared. "Best case scenario, it really is Fox and we get another good story. Worst case, someone is playing a very cruel prank and we beat them up." So nodding everyone signed their names and just like before a bright light engulfed them forcing them to close their eyes.

"Splendid you really did accept my invitation!" a familiar voice called out happily as they shook the blurriness away. "I was worried that I didn't explain things enough to convince you to come."

"Fox?" Ruby asked as she blinked the spots away. "Is that you?"

"Yes it is Ruby…" Fox began only to pause as a little red rocket rammed into him. "I'm sorry to have made you worry child." He muttered patting the back of the crying Ruby. "That goes for all of you, it seems I have caused you unnecessary trouble."

"But how?" Blake muttered as the others began looking around. "We saw you disappear."

"I'm not quite sure either, to be perfectly honest." The being admitted as he separated from Ruby's embrace. "However, I do know that the story I have for you is not an offshoot like the one before." He gestured to the couches behind him. "For now why don't you all get seated?"

As they sat down Ren looked Fox in the eye. "So if we're not reading about an offshoot dimension of our own, what are we reading?" he asked.

"The title of the story is Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku or Death Marching to the Parallel World Rhapsody." Fox explained as he showed them the cover. "To summarize, a person from a mundane world is somehow transported to a world of swords and magic with a three time use unique spell."

Blake's ears perked up. "Those can either be real good or real bad." She stated when the others looked at her. "The person being transported is almost always brought into the new world to save it from a demon lord or something like that." She looked at Fox "Can I start?" she asked.

Fox looked around "Is there anything anyone wants to ask before we begin?" he questioned. Seeing negatives all around, he smiled and handed the book to Blake.

 **1 – 1. Cataclysm Begins through a Death March**

"That…is a very interesting chapter title." Yang stated with a blink of her eyes. "What's a death march though? Cause…well I don't think it's the one I'm thinking about."

Weiss was the one who answered her "They're probably using the business version of the term in which a team works multiple days without rest in order to complete their project." Yang blanched as Ren grimaced remembering how sometimes looking after Nora felt that way. Without waiting for any subsequent comments Blake began reading.

 **Stars wander** **  
** **Great numbers of them** **  
** **Sometimes glimpsing a shooting star** **  
** **When people see such fleeting moments, each recite a wish in their heart.**

Ruby scrunched up her face. "Is it me or is this worded weirdly."

Fox simply smiled "This story is told from a first person perspective, so it's worded in the way they speak."

"So that means we are hearing the character's thoughts?" Jaune asked "So right now the speaker is talking about shooting stars?"

"That is correct."

 **But isn't the sky divided by the falling meteorites?** **  
** **Accompanied with thunderous roar, the mass falls upon the earth with overwhelming speed.**

 **There might be people who enjoy seeing them on TV or a video site... but no one would want to see this downpour in close proximity.** **Yes, right now hundreds of meteorites are falling down in front of my eyes.** **  
**

Both teams seemed stunned as the events in the book played out on the television in front of them. "That looks terrifying." Weiss muttered as she watched the meteors impact the earth repeatedly.

"If something like that were to happen on Remnant I don't think humanity would still be around." Yang stated seriously as she looked at the destruction being caused. "But…how did it happen, was it just coincidence?"

 **Nay.**

 **I shouldn't say it like it's other people's business. This disaster is unmistakably caused by me.** **Due to my thoughtless choice about 10 minutes ago, now meteorites gouge the earth.** **  
** **Striking dozens of kilometers away, trampling down the [enemies] there. From the corner of my viewpoint, the red dots on the radar are disappearing along with their lives.**

"Oh well…that answers my question." Yang muttered with a frown.

"That amount of death and destruction…" Pyrrha muttered sadly. "Just what type of person is the speaker?"

"He doesn't sound like someone who goes out and kills people at random though?" Nora half stated half asked. "See he even admits that he caused all this because he was thoughtless."

"Nora…I don't think that makes it okay." Ren stated simply.

 **And then, a while after most of the meteorites disappear into the earth the slightly delayed sounds reach with a bit of ground tremor.** **Before the wave of dust crawling on the ground...** **Suddenly, I'm struck with acute pain, like it's some sort of divine punishment** **My head feels like it's splitting.** **  
**

Ruby looked thoughtful "Doesn't that radar thing of his look like the mini-map in a game?" she asked innocently. The others paused their own musings as they looked more closely at what Ruby was pointing at.

"You're right, Rubes" Yang stated scratching her head. "Wait…is this…?" she began to ask only for Blake to cut her off.

"This world he's in is remarkably game like. However, that doesn't explain why he's suddenly in so much pain."

 **As if my body is being torn apart and scattered away.**

 **Immediately after my consciousness parted from the pain, my body is swept away by the dust wave.** **Let's rewind the time a bit.**

Everyone just stared somewhat blankly at the screen. "Is this story blatantly telling us that we're seeing a flashback?" Blake asked dully.

"I…I think it is." Jaune muttered in a surprisingly deadpan voice as Pyrrha sighed in what could only be annoyance. "I hate flashbacks." Jaune and Pyrrha both stated before looking at each other in surprise.

"Adorably in-sync aren't they?" Yang asked Weiss while winking causing the heiress to roll her eyes.

 **I'm working on holiday to meet a certain much-delayed project deadline. The so called smartphone and PC browser game from a major company who dispatched an outsourced subcontractor programmer to complete it.** **  
** **Even a black company doesn't normally commission one person for two projects. However the junior programmer disappeared on the verge of release, leaving lots of bug and specification changes! Deplorable!** **Working in a place with high turnover rate, the only programmers around are the junior and me. Having no means to anticipate the situation, I'm forced to not only manage my own project, but also stuck with my junior's doomed project.** "That…that is a completely different setting than what was happening earlier." Ren muttered in slight confusion.

"Are those smartphone thingies like our scrolls?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I believe so Ruby." Fox began as he looked at the little red reaper. "I do believe that your scroll is slightly more advanced though."

"I'm more interested in the fact that this company is forcing all of the work for two different projects onto one person." Weiss stated in anger, even she knew that wasn't good.

 **"Alright, completed all the classes, I/O and comment entries, the rest is auto documenter from source code, relation diagram and seriously squashing the bugs.**

 **I let my neck loose for a bit.** **  
** **Surveying my surrounding, the office is full house on holiday like always. My neighbor, an outsourced person responsible for debugging, is grumbling while working, but no one shift their focus. There is no room for that. The surrounding designers and planners work silently with hollow, dead fish-like eyes.** **  
**

"This is why we leave game design to the pros." Ruby stated with a shiver. "That kind of life looks harder than the life of a huntsman."

"I totally agree!" Nora shouted energetically "They're like…zombies!" she laughed as she began bouncing around again causing Ren to groan.

 **When I returned from getting some coffee, the monitor already finished displaying the output material needed for debugging.**

 **Even so, with no documentary to work with I can't get fired up.** **It can't be helped if the junior who was thrown into OJT right away to complains like dying. Among the 4 programmers who were present when the junior entered the company half a year ago, only I remain, I'm not even sure how many are in the whole company.** **"Sa... Suzuki-san, the client claims that the difficulty of WW is too hard for a beginner, what do we do?"** **You almost said Satou damn you. We've been in the team for half a year, stop getting it wrong!** **  
**

"Satou? Is that an embarrassing name or something?" Yang asked while looking at Blake.

"Why are you asking me?" the Faunus asked looking confused.

"Aren't you the one familiar with foreign words?" Yang shot back looking happy.

"It's just a nickname." Fox cut in to stop any potential arguments.

 **The overweight director and planner turned his head over here with his usual troubled face.** **  
** **Moreover, even though such troublesome things arise, he somehow looks happy. Why are there so many M's among developers?**

"What's an M?" Ruby asked while turning to look at Yang.

"Uh…" Yan floundered as she looked around for help. She really didn't want to explain something like this to Ruby. She looked to Blake who only smiled and turned away. 'Traitor!' Yang hissed within her mind while shifting her attention to Weiss. Weiss turned red in the face as she looked away. 'Don't act all ladylike when it suits you!' Yang shouted internally as she turned to team JNPR for aid.

"The M stands for Masochist Ruby." Pyrrha explained simply causing a look of confusion to cross Ruby's face while everyone else stared at Pyrrha in horror.

"What's that?" the innocent one asked.

"It's a term used to describe people who derive sexual pleasure from having pain inflicted upon them." The Spartan explained causing Ruby to turn bright red as the others in the room looked at her oddly.

"Why do you know that?" Weiss eventually asked.

"I do read books you know." Pyrrha smiled at Weiss who spluttered at the simple answer. "Besides…why do you know what it means hm?" The others shared looks with each other before turning back to the story as Ruby fidgeted uncomfortably.

 **WW is an abbreviation of the smartphone and PC browser game [War World]. It's an orthodox strategy game with a bit of social aspect in it.** **"Didn't they say that the main target market won't play it if we lower the difficulty anymore?"** **Yes, the current difficulty level was decided after great many meeting with the clients. Those time-wasters were really a waste eh. Miserable.**

"I guess I can see what they're talking about." Jaune stated with a hum. "If I was playing a game I really like I wouldn't want it to be made easier to appease people who don't usually play it."

 **"Why don't we use the canceled bonus for the first timer, the show all enemy on map and the 3 time map annihilation bomb? And give the skilled guy who doesn't use it a rare title or such as a present for clear condition?** **"Since there's no time, let's go with that~. I'm counting on you for the implementation Suzuki-san."** **  
** **Mr. Overweight said it as carefree as ever.** **"Waitaminute. I'm still debugging the smartphone MMORPG right now, just give the OK to the client for now. There's no time to fix it if it gets rejected due to poor implementation."** **  
** **"OK. Will immediately tell them on the phone~"** **The gigantic figure of Mr. Overweight disappear into the smoking area with phone in hand.**

"Doesn't that map wide annihilation bomb sound like what happened earlier?" Yang asked starting to put the pieces together.

"It might be." Blake agreed seeing where Yang was going with the thought. "But let's not jump to any conclusions just yet."

 **I continue to work while silently muttering to myself.** **  
** **The GO sign on Mr. Overweight's office lit up, he's out eating junk food like late night.** **After correcting numerous superficial errors left behind by my junior, I leave the rest to the debug team.** **That reminds me, what was the name again? It didn't usually come out since I always call it MMO or Roleplay. Oh yeah, it's [Freedom Fantasy World]. Because it's easy to mix up with WW's former name, [Fantasy War World], no one called it with the proper name. When I think back on it, the documentary marked it as FFW. Since we removed the [Fantasy] from WW, nowadays it's not ambiguous though.** **While the modification for WW goes on for a while, I'm sending the bug I discovered from FFW to the debug team... All-nighter again today huh.** **The checking continues until the next morning, miraculously the client program of the MMO-RPG is delivered.** **Of course, probably there are still some bugs remaining, but since the super weapon called [Update Patch] exists for net distributed programs, there's no need to worry. I feel like I can hear booing from users but I'm sleepy. While the debug team is working, I forwarded the modified exe package of WW to Mr. Overweight via intra-company mail, then I retreated to the safe haven under my desk to sleep for the first time in 30 hours.**

"I think I would do the same thing if I went thirty hours with no sleep." Ruby muttered worriedly. "You think he's okay?"

"Ruby he was just forced to work for thirty hours straight, there's no way he's okay." Weiss pointed out simply causing Ruby to blush slightly.

 **Ah, bliss. The fun time of a corporate slave. For now, sleep is justice!** **Do you know what lucid dream is?** **  
** **Being aware that you're inside your dream.** **Right now, I'm in a wilderness.** **I'll stop since it looks like a line from Pol-san**

"Who?" both teams asked while looking at Fox.

"I'm afraid I don't know the reference either." The being admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

 **Yep, wilderness. I guess it's okay to liken it with the American Grand Canyon.** **Why do I know that it's a dream?** **One, because I remember sleeping under my desk. Another is because I can see [Icon] for 4 on the lower right and [Menu] written on the upper-right of my vision.** **It looks like the thing on WW I worked on earlier.**

Blake seemed deep in thought. "There's no way it's that simple." She muttered getting an odd look from her leader. "Judging by the title of the series, he really is in a different world, but I suppose the work he was doing mixed in with the fatigue made him think that it was a dream then…"

 **However! This is the first time that I'm dreaming about the thing I worked on during a debugging Death March. Though I'm not sure why it's wilderness instead of my work room...** **  
** **Was it because the room was dry, I'm feeling that's the reason.** **Somehow the menu opens when I tap it with my finger. A transparent window often used for near-future stuff appears in my vision... I have poor imagination if I say so myself, I'll never be a planner or designer.** **The menu is divided into tabs for [INFO], [MAP], [Unit Management], [Storage], [Exchange], and [Log], as well as [Status], [Equipment], [Magic] and [Skill] menus that don't exist in WW.** **Did it get mixed up during the FFW debug last night?** **Well, you can't really expect consistency in dream though.**

"Don't I know it?" Nora cheered happily as she began laughing. "One time I dreamt of eating a tower of pancakes that Ren made for me, but then suddenly I was riding a donkey while singing about marshmallows!"

The others looked at Ren for an explanation but only got a shrug in response. "You get used to it." He explained simply.

 **When I check Status, level is 1, HP, MP, Strength and all other attribute are 10. This is the basic status that hasn't been assigned with bonus points. Come to think of it, the last check was character creation.** **Hmm? There's also Job Type and Reward & Punishment parameters that don't exist in FFW? Where did it get mixed in from?** **Age, 15 years old... Did I want to have mentality of a student again?** **  
** **[Job Type: Management], but I don't even have one subordinate!** **  
** **Even so, [Affiliation: None], is it a sign that I want to change job...** **The content truly has hidden meaning in it... Ah, I want a vacation.**

"He's totally convinced he's dreaming isn't he?" Pyrrha asked with a chuckle.

"That might be why he so casually called down a meteor storm." Blake nodded in agreement.

 **The peculiar ability of [Unit Creation] or [Unit Arrangement] probably mixed in from WW, but is there any need for the peculiar ability field to be written in the menu?** **  
** **Furthermore what is with the last ability being [Indestructible]? What a strange dream.** **  
** **I'm wearing a Polo shirt, chinos pant and sneakers. Hey, this is my attire just now. In the storage, there is my wallet, mobile phone and a yellow box with impressive nutritional balance food inside, 1 box. Come to think of it, I left it on the desk with the intention of eating but I lost to the drowsiness in the end.** **[Magic] and [Skill] are blank.** **  
** **There are 10 skill points but sadly there are no skills to allocate them into.** **Opening [Setting], I add map and radar on basic indicator. Map displays a wide area and my own position. Radar is almost the same as map but it searches for enemies on the area, and adds color-coding to enemies and neutral units.** **I'm shown on radar as a small white point. The surrounding 100 meter is shown in gray, indicating unexplored region.** **"Umu, I cannot see any enemies. It's free time. If only this was grassland I could indulge myself in lying around inactive."**

"That's a flag." Jaune muttered getting odd looks from those around him while Blake looked interested in his reasoning. "He's going to do something that reveals the areas around him really soon probably."

 **I'm not interested in lying down on a rough ground.**

 **I inadvertently stare at the icon "4" on the lower right corner. [All Map Exploration] is 1, [Meteor Shower] is 3. These are the measures for newbies from the arrangement with Mr. Overweight.** **[All Map Exploration] is just like the name suggests, search all the region in range. It also makes it possible to view detailed information, including the weak point of all units.** **  
** **I thought that the scope of information was too much with no practical use for it, but Mr. Overweight pushed for it to be included in the package.** **I tried tapping it like on a smartphone.** **  
** **The radar searched for all enemy and countless red dot appear. I lower magnification on the radar to display wider area.** **  
** **Red dots filled half the map... Aren't the enemies too many?**

"Called it"

 **I choose to keep them company with my own army using [Unit]** **  
** **I'm getting fired up on having a small army defeating large one!** **...There was an era when I thought such thing.** **[Unit Creation]... Possibility to make unit, none.** **  
** **[Unit Arrangement]... Can't arrange nonexistent unit.** **"Attacking with a level 1 character lololol"** **  
** **Truly a dream. Even absurd things are unreasonable.** **  
**

"Well I think that should be the first hint that it's not a dream right?" Weiss suggested as she glanced at the resident plot expert.

"What's with that 'You read a lot so you should know how things go' look on your face." Blake asked with a raised eyebrow causing Weiss to stare at her strangely.

 **I glanced at the [Meteor Shower] icon on the lower right.**

 **This is [Meteor Shower], the celestial annihilation.** **[Meteor Shower] is set with high tension parameters; it could destroy everything, beside the campaign scenario last hidden boss, in a single blow.** **It's a message for beginner that says "Bulldoze the map you can't clear with this".** **Would you push?** **  
** **Yes** **  
** **ＹＥＳ** **  
** **Heil Braiking!** **  
**

"Well then…now we know how that beginning sequence came to be." Ren stated with an amused voice. "I don't think I would've done things differently." There sounds of agreement around the room as everyone thought about it.

 **The last one seems to be a bit different.** **  
** **Maybe the effects from the all-nighter still remain, I tap the icon while thinking such thing.**

 **...The silence hurts.** **  
** **I expected something amazing but there's nothing happening is it?** **I was sad for a moment and proceed to lie down. My back hurt from the rough ground.** **  
** **Then I turn my face toward the sky, something comes into the view...** **Thank you for waiting.** **We're finally back to the opening scene.** **Real name, Suzuki Ichiro. Character name, Satou's life in different world began this way.**

"Well…that escalated quickly." Yang muttered as she leaned back into the couch.

"If this isn't the way to start an overpowered main character story I don't know what is." Blake stated as she set the book down in order to rest her eyes.

"Aren't overpowered character stories usually pretty bad?" Jaune asked

"Not necessarily, it depends on how they do it." Blake stated with a shake of her head. "If the main focus is on saving the world and the villains aren't equally overpowered than yes, it's pretty bad. However, overpowered character stories have their own unique possibilities for fun."

With that thought in mind Blake handed the book to Weiss who began to read the next chapter.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

If you're reading this than you probably follow one or more of my other stories. Unfortunately I've decided to drop all other non-completed stories and will leave them up for adoption.

My reasoning is that, simply put, I've lost sight of what I wanted to do with each one and currently feel zero desire to fix them. If you want to adopt a story feel free to do so.

After 60 days or so I will delete all of my abandoned stories.


	2. Reading 1 - 2

Well, it looks like this story wasn't taken down by FF admins so I guess that means it's alright to keep updating it. Something of note, I recently started using the free version of Grammarly so some of the wording from the novel itself is changed due to that, but overall I think that it feels a little better to read. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to tell if some of the grammar errors are intentional or not.

One review I got in the first chapter was asking about why would the cast of RWBY even bother with reading something like this since it has no relation to any of their lives whatsoever. There does not need to be a relation to the main cast, for them to be interested. The idea is that they read a story with the host, Fox, before and enjoyed it. Therefore, if offered to read something else with him why wouldn't they? The idea that an "RWBY reads X" needs to have X being an RWBY or RWBY crossover fanfiction is just silly.

The only thing I think a "RWBY Reads…" story needs to have is that the readers be in character according to Canon, which admittedly is something I struggle with myself sometimes.

* * *

Weiss accepted the book politely and cleared her throat as she prepared to read the next chapter.

 **1-2. Written Dream Read as Ephemeral**

Yang frowned as she tried to understand the title. "What?" she eventually asked before looking around for help from her friends. "Okay what does that mean?" she continued getting shrugs from Jaune and Ruby.

"Ephemeral means to be short-lived or fleeting," Blake explained simply as the others looked at her. "Like a dream for example." She added to getting nods of understanding from her friends.

 **Hello, Suzuki here.**

 **Having a weak presence, I've been called Satou since my school days for some reason, this is Suzuki.** **Even though you don't feel pain in a dream, you can still feel the signs of pain when you dream of dental cavities.** **No?** **Well, that's good too.**

"Uh…" Ruby muttered as she tried to make sense of the random bit of information given to her.

"I don't think that was relevant information Ruby, don't worry about it," Weiss stated in concern as she saw smoke beginning to pour out of her team leader's ears. Silently looking to Fox for confirmation the Schnee heiress was relieved to see him pulling out a piece of paper and reading it over.

"According to this note I have here, chapters that feature Satou's perspective start out with a random musing of his." Putting the paper away Fox smiled at the red reaper, "So you don't have to worry about making sense of it little one." He assured her before handing her a cookie. _ **  
**_ **  
** **I seem to have fainted for two hours following the severe pain after the Meteor Shower receded.**

 **Time is displayed on the menu. Convenient.** **My body is half buried in the ground.** **Huh? I can't get up...** **Feels like when you can't get up off the bed during winter.**

"Wait…" Weiss muttered as she stopped reading in order to rub the bridge of her nose. "…Not only does he lose consciousness for two hours, but he also ended up being half buried within the rubble and the first thing he thinks of is how similar it is to not being able to get up off the bed during winter?" **  
**

"Poor common sense," Blake stated in response as she made a praying gesture. "You will be remembered fondly.

Ruby frowned "Blake you shouldn't kill common sense so soon." She pointed out.

"Yeah Blakey I thought that was my job." Yang supported her sister with a goofy grin.

"Too late Yang, Nora already killed it," Ren muttered in monotone a small smile the only indication he was poking fun at the bubbly girl.

"Common sense?" Nora asked looking up having been engrossed with the story. "What's that?" None of her friends could tell if she was serious or not.

 **My hands seem to move but menu operation is troublesome since it feels heavy.**

 **If only I had ESP to operate the menu and check the log.** **When I imagined such a thing, it really happened. Truly a dream. It's unrestricted in strange places.** **  
**

"Well, that sounds convenient," Jaune muttered getting odd looks. "What you've never wished to have psychic powers before?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really…" Ruby muttered with a tilt of her head.

"Nope," Yang added in while popping the P.

"Can't say that I have," Blake stated seriously.

"Admittedly control of Polarity is similar enough for me so I never really thought about it before," Pyrrha explained simply.

"I never bothered to waste time thinking about other abilities other than my own." Ren reasoned.

"Where's the fun in breaking legs if I don't do it with my own two hands?" Nora asked getting weird looks from the others. "What?"

"Maybe…it was just me then…" Jaune muttered unsurely.

 **When I see the log while thinking that, the message [Satou Level Up] showed up and harassment-like [Chararacchara~] famous level up SFX rang when I scroll through the log.**

 **Continuing for a while, I finally found a different message log.** **Skill [Summoning Magic: Foreign World] Acquired.** **Summoning Magic [Meteor Shower] Acquired.** **[Meteor Shower] is that meteorite summoning magic, right?**

"So does that mean he can use Meteor Shower whenever now?" Nora asked tilting her head cutely.

Ren nodded his head mutely while Pyrrha wrung her hands worriedly. "That…does seem a bit…dangerous." She muttered trying to word her thoughts thoughtfully.

"Wait I'm confused." Ruby began as she placed a finger on her chin in thought. "So is magic itself a skill and then you have to learn the different spells as well?"

"Seems inefficient if you ask me." Blake mused as she considered what her team leader said.

 **It's a magic that does not exist in FFW. Summoning magic is only supposed to summon spirits or golems. Though the world part bugs me. There is no [Foreign World] in either FFW or WW. It bothers me even for a dream.** **The [Level Up] messages continue on.** **Since there's a time stamp, the order of message can't be wrong. In order, it's [Skill Acquired] [Magic that belongs to the Skill Acquired] [Level up]** **In other words, this is the kind of RPG that does not let you automatically learn skill and magic as your level rise!**

Weiss paused in her reading as she regarded the recent passage. "Hmm…" she mused as she went over the statement in her mind. "So in this world, abilities are independent of actual level. Anyone can learn any skill if they meet whatever precondition the skill has."

Yang nodded her head. "Yup, sounds like it." She grinned as she thought about what it would be like to live in a world like that. "Games like that are pretty fun if they get it right."

 **"No no, why am I doing analysis inside my dream..."** **Apparently, my habit of analyzing thing from the gamer era surfaced.** **But it's alright, even if it's embarrassing inside a dream, let's continue the analysis.** **Even in this situation, my real body is properly taking a rest anyway!**

"He still thinks this is a dream?" Jaune asked curiously. "Didn't he get hurt earlier? Wouldn't that debunk the dream theory?"

"He is refusing to accept the possibility that being in a new world is even possible," Ren explained as he subtly motioned for Weiss to continue.

 **I close the log and decided to check the magic and skill tabs.** **"But, before that."** **I set the [Log] to open by default from [Setting].** **It's troublesome to switch every time.**

"Hey Yang, that means he can see every time something is updated around him right?" Ruby asked since she honestly always turned her log off when he could.

"Yup I can see why he did that too." She paused before correcting herself. "Well, I can see why someone who knew they were in a different world would do that."

"Go on, seeing you reason things out is a rarity that I like to indulge in." Blake urged her with a small smile on her face as the others chuckled softly.

"All of my hate Blake." The brawler muttered with a sour look, but she continued to explain her reasons all the same. "It just makes sense to me." She began as she tried to word things properly. "Like if someone tried to mind control you or something or maybe you're given a poisoned drink, the log would let you know."

Pyrrha nodded her head thoughtfully. "But wouldn't that only work if you resist the effects in the first place?" she questioned the brawler.

"It's not a perfect system, of course, there would be situations that having a log ready and available won't help you with," Yang explained as Weiss smirked before continuing to read.

 **The magics are [Meteor Shower] and [All Map Exploration].** **The skills are [Summoning Magic: Foreign World][Nature Magic: Foreign World].** **Seems that [All Map Exploration] belongs to the nature magic category.** **Are usable magic and skills registered?** **But I can't use it if I don't remember it anyway, this time the exclusive use of an initial bonus seems to be an irregular pattern. As a programmer, I immediately deny the notion.**

Ren hummed as he considered the words. "I guess programmers prefer having easy to recognize patterns in their work then." He mused getting nods of understanding from his friends.

 **My status has changed considerably. After all, my level has been raised to 310 from 1. The limit in FFW should have been 50 at the time I went to sleep. Though we raised it to infinity when we ran stress tests for the server, so the memory from that time might've affected this dream.** **The experience points are lined up to an astronomical 9 digit number I don't feel like reading. I want to have a comma splice for every three digits. Let's propose it for the next update.** **Strength (STR) and Intelligence (INT) attribute values are 99. FFW client stopped the value at 99 but there is no actual upper limit. During the time when we lifted off the level restriction, the attribute value also rises accordingly... In other words, the actual value might be higher here too?** **Endurance (HP) and MP (Magic Power), and Stamina (SP) became 3100 harmoniously. These were set to rise by a fixed 10 for each level. There are many approaches to reduce consumption through various skills.**

Jaune chuckled nervously "Those are really high stat values aren't they?" he asked looking at the two gamers in the group.

"Well considering that his HP at level 1 was 10 then yeah, those stats are very high," Ruby stated simply. "I may not know the full details about character stats in games like hardcore players and designers, but any character with those kinds of stats are usually characters that aren't supposed to be beatable by players in the game."

"Meaning that Satou is essentially the strongest mortal being on the planet probably." Blake summarized. "Depending on the logic of the world he's in, he might even be on the levels of the gods."

Before they could go even deeper into the discussion, Nora slapped the table hard enough to startle everyone. "Let Weiss finish guys. Debate about things after the info dump."

Ren smiled and patted his friend on the head getting a blush out of her that he missed. "Nora's right, your questions might be answered this chapter you know." Sharing looks the others shrugged their shoulders and let Weiss continue.

 **It's made this way since, according to the Planner, the adjustment is troublesome if we raise each one differently.** **In addition, available skill points are also 3100.** **Did it decrease from the acquired skill earlier?** **When I properly look at the skill column, both skills just now are greyed out. [Magic Art: Foreign World Lv0] shows up when I tap it. Tapping the Lv text shows [Please Allocate Point (1-10)] confirmation dialogue, so I tried to put 10.** **Without any SFX the text becomes white and changes to [Magic Art: Foreign World Lv10]. Skill points become 3090. 1 level = 1 skill point. Easy to understand. When I try to tap on it again, [Maximum Level] message shows up.** **  
**

"I wonder what it means to have a maxed out skill in this world." Ruby thought aloud getting a look from Weiss as she paused her reading. "I mean let's say there's a skill related to using a rapier, using Weiss as an example. What level would Weiss be? Would her rapier level be high or low?"

Weiss hummed slightly before answering. "I'd imagine I'd be around a level 8 rapier user considering how long I've trained with my weapon." She explained getting a nod from the others.

Blake, however, thought otherwise. "What if level 10 is considered to be on the level of the gods? Would you say your skill with a rapier near the level of a god?"

Weiss frowned but conceded that Blake may have a point. "Well talking about it is useless if we don't actually know what it means to be a level 10 skill user." She stated as she continued to read.

 **On the magic column, [All Map Exploration] text is white while [Meteor Shower] remains in grey.**

 **It seems that you can't meet the condition to use magic if you don't allocate points to the skill level. So I also put 10 points to [Summoning Magic: Foreign World Lv0].** **  
**

"So even if the knowledge on how to use a skill is there, it won't do anything if you don't allocate points to it?" Yang asked while tilting her head. "Well, I guess it helps to know that we're all on the level with these things eh?"

There was a collective groan from everyone else. "Does that even qualify as a pun anymore?" Ruby moaned in anguish.

 **There are also many things added to the title column.**

 **First [Monster Slayer]. Yep, I understand this. Then [Scale Tribe Slayer][Scale Tribe Calamity][Scale Tribe Natural Enemy] I'm not sure what scale tribe means but they're probably reptile monsters. Furthermore, [Wyvern Slayer][Dragon Slayer[Lower]][Dragon Slayer[Infant]][Dragon Slayer[Adult]][Dragon Slayer[Ancient]], and other [Dragon Slayer] with [] inside continue endlessly.** **Well, with this many dragons I can understand why such an impossible level-up to the 300 range happened. The map was dyed red before the attack earlier.** **  
**

"NOOOOOOOOOO THE POOR DRAGONS!" Nora cried out seeing that so many had died to Satou.

"I hope that doesn't destabilize the natural order of the world or anything serious," Pyrrha muttered worriedly.

"It's a fantasy world Pyrrha, have hope that there's more than one area in the world where Dragons live." Jaune comforted the red-haired warrior getting a nod of thanks from her.

 **Then, just like the title for Scale Tribe, [Dragon Tribe Natural Enemy] appeared and the last title is [God Slayer].**

 **Do you believe in god?** **"Wait, when did I kill one?"**

There was a pregnant pause within the room as they all registered that fact. Fox calmly set his tray down and stood up. "I think I'll get some snacks ready." He mentioned before simply disappearing.

"So…" Yang began slowly. "He killed a god."

"Yup." Blake nodded.

"That…that's totally going to fuck him over isn't it."

"YANG LANGUAGE!" Ruby shouted out, pointing an accusing finger at her older sister.

"Yup…" Blake nodded again.

 **I tap the log and search for [God].** **Defeated the Dragon God AkonKagura!** **There, the cause for god slayer. I see, the meteor shower also killed the god.** **I see I killed it...** **Only 2 remain, god slaying technique!** **No no, why would I kill them?** **However, the log doesn't show damage so I don't know how powerful it was. In FFW and WW, the last blows damage should have been displayed but... I guess there's no point questioning a dream.** **  
**

"I think he's broken; like he totally just ignored the fact that apparently, he killed a god with a meteor shower," Nora stated with a grin. "You think he'll kill anymore?"

"Wait and see Nora." Ren chided her simply.

 **Since it's become easier to move, I raise my body.**

 **I turned off the display icon for [Meteor Shower] in [Setting] since I don't want to become the enemy of humanity by carelessly clicking it.**

As one, both teams raised a hand and gave the screen a thumbs up. "Good job."

 **Oh right, I haven't used the magic column yet.** **I switched to the tab with [All Map Exploration] and [Meteor Shower] in it. Now then, how do I use it? I wonder if tapping it normally work.** **There is no particular change when I try to use [All Map Exploration].** **When I check the log there's [Magic: All Map Exploration used] message. MP become 3090 in the status. Seems like it uses 10 MP. I added HP and MP to the basic indicator since it's annoying to check it every time.** **There's nothing reflected in the radar besides me.** **It's nice that there's no enemy but mass killing like this is not funny. No, wait, it's normal for a game.**

Weiss frowned "Thank whatever higher being of existence that watches over us, that there aren't too many people who think killing massive amounts of people is normal."

"Yeah…criminals are bad enough…but genocidal maniacs with magic powers? Remnant would need more than just hunters and huntresses." Ruby muttered slightly fearful of such a reality.

"I'm surprised you know what genocidal means Ruby," Weiss admitted as she regarded the younger girl.

"It was in a game I played before, so I got curious since Dad wouldn't explain it to me." I ended up dropping that game when I found out that the faction I was playing as committed genocide against like…6 different other factions.

 **Since there are no victims I guess it's okay? I slowly tap on [Meteor Shower]. It feels like something is greatly pulling out my vigor. I saw my MP continue to decrease. It stopped after consuming exactly 1000 points.**

 **It didn't feel like this the first time I use it, guess it wasn't using my own magic power back then.** **I look up at the sky. There's no meteorite yet. Considering before, it should be soon.** **And then groups of meteorites tore apart the cloud.** **Huge. What the heck is that?** **It's 100 times bigger than the earlier meteorites.** **I instinctively run before thinking.** **Of course toward the opposite side of the drop zone.**

Fox, who was just returning with snacks in hand nearly dropped them seeing the devastation wrought by the super meteor storm. "Oh my." He muttered recovering quickly as he set the snacks down. "Go ahead and enjoy every one." He urged seeing the stupefied looks on the teens' faces. Quietly they began to eat slowly mulling over what they had just seen. After finishing her snack Weiss slowly picked up the book and continued reading.

 **I run as fast as I can with the continuous huge meteorite impact sound in the background.** **As if running through water, the air resistance is too strong. It normally feels sluggish when you run in a dream, is it just me?** **I rolled over to the other side of a table-like small wall of rocks. Even though I said small, it's about 100 meters in radius so it will do fine as a shield.** **A tsunami of dust sweeps apart just right after I went into the shelter. People-sized rock occasionally rolls through the dust cloud, my spine becomes a bit cold.** **I wonder how long it will elapse. When the dust cloud settled I climb the rock wall to see at the fall.**

"I'm sure the landscape is completely different now," Jaune muttered in slight fear. "There isn't anyone who can actually do something like that in Remnant is there?"

"I hope not." Pyrrha agreed with Jaune as she rubbed her arm.

 **Since the slope is pretty steep I tried jumping over 50 cm height.** **Pon. I fly 5 meters feeling like hearing such SFX.** **Landing on the ledge of a rock with slight panic.** **"This status rise, what a joke~"** **I tried to deceive my trembling body by speaking to myself.** **"That giant meteorite earlier is probably thanks to INT increase too~"**

Ruby tilted her head "What's the difference between those two measurements?" she asked looking at Blake. "I'm only used to inches and feet."

Blake quickly did the math in her head. "5 meters is 10 times the length of 50 centimeters Ruby." She paused when she saw that it still didn't really register with the hood wearing scythe user. "50 centimeters is a little less than 20 inches."

"Oh…that's a really high jump."

 **I run up the wall by alternatively kicking through various ledges and rock edges like some kind of ninja in games and manga. How convenient. Even in a dream, I have pretty high adaptability if I may say so myself.** **I can see the collapse of a mushroom cloud in the distance. Most likely, it's sediment that got caught up on the fall. This would create crop failure and health damage disaster if this was the real world, due to the reduction of sunshine.** **"It's a dream anyway, there's no helping it even if I think about it."** **I think it's bad that it's too real.**

"So…" Ren began getting everyone's attention. "When do you think he'll figure out that it's not a dream?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

"Nothing fazes you much does it?" Jaune asked looking at his only male friend oddly.

"I grew up with Nora," Ren stated as if that explained everything. To Jaune, it kind of did.

* * *

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I will try to update this on a bi-weekly basis.

And before anyone asks I will not have the teams complete the entire series in one sit through, you'll find out how I plan to handle the multiple volumes later on.


	3. Reading 1 - 3

Hey everyone here is your bi-weekly update for the RWBY Reads story. Nothing too noteworthy has happened since the last update. Please enjoy.

* * *

(BREAK)

"So who is reading now?" Weiss asked looking around the room.

"I'll do it!" Ruby shouted happily as she took the book from Weiss' hands. "Let's see what happens next?" she wondered aloud as she began reading.

 **1-3. The Start of Wandering Life!**

Yang smirked, "I guess he's still lost for now." She stated getting snorts of amusement from Jaune and Ren. "Do you think he got lost on the road of life?"

"BOO that reference sucked!" Nora shouted throwing a thumbs down at Yang.

"You want to go Hammer Head?" Yang shouted at the petite girl.

"Bring it Goldilocks!" Nora challenged as her eyes blazed with the fires of competition.

Before the two could really go at it Fox stepped in between them and placed a hand on both of their heads. "No fighting…" he stated as he looked them both in the eyes. "Got it?" he asked lowly.

 **"Hello, Suzuki here. My character name is Satou, but I'm Suzuki."**

 **I want to talk with somebody instead of doing this monologue!**

Pyrrha frowned "That seems terribly lonely." She noted sadly.

"Well, he is wandering an unknown area after completely obliterating the local populace even if they were 'enemies' so it's really only a matter of how long it takes to leave the area and find someone that doesn't try to attack him right away," Blake explained getting odd looks from the others. "I read a lot, you notice popular trends after a while."

They couldn't really say anything to that as Ruby continued to read.

 **Since the dream continued with no sign of it being over, I decided to look for human habitation.** **  
** **Thankfully at the edge of the wide map, there looks to be some kind of highway.** **Three days since then. I've been walking day and night yet am still only halfway there.** **  
** **Stamina gradually decreases, but it's still 2800/3100. It decreased by about 100 each day.** **  
** **If this was a game, I should be okay for 28 days, more but I'm at my limit already.**

"So even now, he still thinks it's a dream," Ren muttered with a shake of his head.

"I thought you couldn't feel pain in a dream so shouldn't he know by now since he complained about some pain earlier?" Nora asked with her usual hyperactive energy.

Weiss sniffed "It's called denial." She noted blandly. "It's what we all see whenever you say you don't like Ren that way." Ren raised an eyebrow before turning towards Nora who seemed unusually panicked

She quickly tapped his nose "BOOP!" she shouted before stuffing the rest of the snacks into her mouth.

Fox sighed "I'll go make some more." He stated as he stood up and walked away.

Jaune hummed as he noticed something. "So technically he can just keep walking for roughly 31 days without stop?" he asked looking around.

"It seems like it, though I'd assume that it only turns out that way if he sleeps normally and eats normally," Pyrrha suggested.

 **I'm not sure if it's because of my stat or dream, but I don't feel tired. I did get sleepy but I endured it.** **  
** **Right now I'm walking, even if I run the stamina decrease rate isn't really different. If I jump around the stamina decreases faster than running but honestly, it's still within the margin of error.** **  
** **Then why am I walking now? That's because I'm free.** **You don't understand?** **  
** **Yeah.**

Ruby looked up in thought as she paused her reading. "I guess he just doesn't feel the need to go any faster than his current pace?" she wondered aloud as she rubbed her chin. "I mean, just because I can run super fast doesn't mean I always want to." Seeing nods from her friends she continued reading.

 **At the start, I was singing a one-man karaoke while running.** **  
** **Originally my repertoire is small. I ran out of song immediately.** **  
** **The surrounding scenery is magnificent but unfortunately, it rarely changes.** **Then, I decided to read the long log.**

"Oh, it's like a road trip only without a car," Yang noted realizing how boring that could be. "I guess I'd read the log too if I had nothing else to do." There was some general agreement from the others as Ruby continued to read.

 **I'm not a text mania but since it's painful to silently walk an aimless road I began reading the log from the very first entry.** **  
** **Of course, it's hard to read the text while running, so I began to walk. Absorbed with reading the log, I forgot my original purpose of getting onto the highway.** **The log started with [Magic Art: All Map Exploration is used], then [Defeated~] messages for defeating Lizardmen and Dragonewts until the Dragon God.** **  
** **Afterward there's [Defeated All Enemies on the Map] and lastly [Source: Conquered Dragon God Valley]. Source? What's that? Mystery words pop out.**

"Source?" the two teams questioned simply as they tried to understand what had happened.

"What do you think that means?" Ruby asked looking around.

"Well if this a sword and magic world, maybe source means a source of magic?" Blake suggested without any real confidence.

"That would make sense though." Ren agreed, but then he added. "However, we have no proof so we should probably just continue reading to find out." Nodding in agreement Ruby turned her attention back to the book in her lap.

 **Then the log continues with loot and level up record.**

 **The loot records occupy 80% of the log. Common gold and equipment. Then various dragon materials like horns, fangs, and scales. Up to this, I can understand the quantity and quality of the loot, but in contrast, the remaining ones are strange.** **  
** **Lizardmen and Dragonewts corpses are stored in the storage. Is it for Necromancer's use?** **  
** **The rest are probably daily goods used by the scale tribe like food and fuel. I can't lay out such items though... furthermore, they're all named with [Broken~] as a prefix, aren't these garbage?** **  
**

"Does anyone else find it odd that corpses are items you can store?" Weiss asked in concern. "That…doesn't sound…good." She eventually stated.

"Yeah, that's horrible…but that's a lot of junk he's acquired." Yang muttered seeing all the items with the [Broken~] prefix.

"I wonder if any of that is useful…" Ren muttered simply.

"Somehow I don't think so Ren." Jaune pointed out. "If it's really like a game, wouldn't anything broken just be there to take up inventory slots?" Ren shrugged conceding the point.

 **As one would expect, reading through tens of thousands of detail would be troublesome.** **  
** **Thankfully, WW storage window allows you to search and classify by item type and user tag.**

 **I designed them as a common interface to decrease the working steps needed. I'm a bit proud making it on the same level as the latest OS filer.** **  
** **Of course, there's also optional folder functionality, but when you tap the stored item inside the bag, the sub-type will expand and you can take it out without confirming. Of course, you can also take out the item by dragging it too. In addition, you can also put user registered items on the custom tab. This was added because it's annoying to input search word every time on a smartphone.** **  
**

"Uh…" the less tech-savvy members made various noises of confusion as they stared at the most recent paragraph.

"Basically he made a filing system that made things super easy for him to find things in his item bag," Ruby explained for everyone's benefit.

"Why is Ruby the one who understands that best?" Weiss whispered to Yang.

"Despite how she normally acts, you have to remember how much of a weapons dork she is." The blonde brawler explained getting an understanding look from Weiss.

 **Well, the story wandered off for a bit. I can't blabber on program scheme too long.**

 **I open two storage windows to begin organizing items. First, I create a folder for each general type. Then I will create sub-folder for sub-types inside.** **In the setting screen, I enabled the [Automatically Stack Identical Item Type] option.** **  
** **Without this enabled, the total number of items would be too much.**

"That…sounds incredibly useful," Ren noted while looking impressed.

"Wouldn't it be so cool to be able to do that in real life, Ren?" Nora asked with her normal enthusiasm.

 **By the way, we call overlapping position like this as stacking in FFW and WW. The term exists in most RPG's so I will omit the explanation. I wonder if the etymology comes from piling pieces in the old simulation board game.** **Anyhow** **  
**

"Stacking?" Pyrrha asked looking slightly lost.

"Well like it mentioned it's basically just grouping things together. Like all books in one pile, swords in another and shields in a third pile." Jaune explained for the Spartan warrior.

"Oh, I get it now." She smiled and thanks Jaune causing him to redden as he looked away.

 **Gold loot is mostly money.**

 **The most numerous one is [Ancient Empire Gold Coin]. It's 1.001.2000, wow. I tried taking out one, it's quite big and heavy. It's about as big as a 500 Yen coin and as heavy as five 100 Yen coins. If I remember right, it's about 30 grams. Since in real-world money, the coin is about 4-7 grams, this one is too big and heavy. If we calculate, the total is 303 Tons... an absurd weight. In the real world, about 2500 Tons of gold is mined a year. Hoarding so much gold like this is very Dragon-ish.**

"That…" the entire room was stunned by the number given to them. "How many pancakes could I buy with that amount of gold Ren?" Nora asked looking slightly deranged.

"Nora with that amount of money all eight of us could retire right now," Ren said in monotone.

"Oh, the things I could do with that much gold…" Yang muttered with a dreamy sigh. Her words caused the others to consider what they would do with that much money. Everyone eventually sighed sadly realizing it would only ever be a dream.

 **The next numerous one is [Saga Empire Gold Coin] of about 40K. I'm interested whether there are many empires or if it was a new empire built after the former one was destroyed by a dragon. I tried taking out this one too, it's a bit smaller than 500 Yen coin but the weight is only about 7 grams.** **And the third, Crimson Treasure 30K. Fantasy-like money appears! Taking it out, it's about half as heavy as the ancient gold coin with ruby-like appearance. Sometimes it let out a flash of light from inside creating cyber (chick?) feeling. A bit mysterious.**

"So basically…this dude will never run out of money," Yang stated with a jealous look. "I really wish I was in his place right now."

"No you don't, we don't even know if he ever finds other people." Weiss pointed out logically. "Maybe if we get a better picture of the overall world we could make that statement, but right now we have no idea."

"Weiss is right," Pyrrha stated calmly. "It's always better to make informed decisions." Yang pouted at being denied so easily but conceded that they both had a point.

 **The rest are 10K of [Ancient Empire] silver and copper coin. [Saga Empire] and [Shiga Kingdom] silver, small silver, big copper, copper, pennies. [Drag Holy Kingdom] big silver, silver, copper, and various money with [~Kingdom] suffix. These are all in a total of 7000. For now, I sort it by country.** **Still, WW and FFW didn't have sets of money... In WW it was called Wol, and in FFW it's Kaane, there's no other currency besides it.** **  
** **These various currencies may come from the quiz show I saw during my break, impacting this dream.** **  
**

"Please take a hint Satou," Blake mumbled as she rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I mean, wouldn't anyone else figure out that it's not a dream by now?"

"I admit…it is somewhat vexing seeing him make the same assumption for three chapters in a row already," Weiss admitted.

 **There are also jewelry, ornaments and works of art besides money. A simple silver ring, emerald fist, ornamental crown, life-sized gold figure, decorative short sword, and many valuable looking things numbered about 300K.**

 **Most are just expensive looking normal items, however, there are magic items mixed in around 5% of the total.**

"Oh, that looks pretty," Jaune noted seeing a diamond necklace on the screen. The girls all gave him odd looks. "What?" he asked eventually looking at them in confusion.

"I didn't take you to be a jewelry kind of guy Jauney Boy," Yang stated looking at him differently.

"Yang…" Jaune began with a sigh. "I have seven sisters. Give me a break."

"Oh right…" Yang smiled sheepishly realizing that she had forgotten that Jaune was the only boy of eight siblings.

 **The detailed information for the magic items are long so I skimped on reading it. Think of it like reading internet slang that you don't understand the meaning of on a bulletin board. There was no mounted jewelry in WW and FFW.**

 **Understanding some of the explanations, there are some things that catch my attention. Able to produce 100 liters of water a day, [Hell Water Jug (Water Bottle)].**

"Is that safe?" Pyrrha wondered nervously. "Skipping the information about magical items?"

"It's only dangerous if you try to use it," Blake mentioned as Ruby continued to read the story. "100 liters of water a day…that sounds really convenient."

"Yeah, perfect for traveling the desert." Ren nodded in agreement.

 **I took out the [Hell Water Jug (Water Bottle)] when I found it and drank the water. I wanted to wash my face and hair with it but gave up since the dust from the meteor shower is still floating around.** **Other things are; able to keep 1000 sheets of money, [Magic Wallet], stacking 30 varied types of up to 30 items, [30 Holding Bag]. I put those 3 things on favorite.** **  
**

Ruby smiled as she thought about the items mentioned "Man that'd be so cool to have!" she noted excitedly. "We'd cut down on gear weight so much too if we could have that water bottle!"

Yang smiled and ruffled her sister's hair causing the younger girl to pout at her cutely.

 **Since I have infinite storage, there's no point in a magic bag, but I like seeing a long sword slide in and out of the bag.**

 **The second day ended with such feelings after organizing treasury.**

"It would be cool to watch a longsword disappear into a normal looking bag." Jaune agreed as others in the group nodded as well. "But seriously when do you think he will find other people?"

"Could be a while considering the pace of the story so far," Blake mumbled as she looked around for Fox. "What do you think Fox is making for us?" she asked trying to find the vulpine headed host.

"Cake?" Ruby wondered aloud hopefully. Shaking her head she turned her attention back onto the story.

 **Moving on with this and that on the third day. The clock has crossed 0. I'm not sure if it's really the third day since I slip off the clock every 4 hours.** **  
** **Since I'd get tired if I sleep on this wasteland's rough ground, I keep walking instead. There's a full moon tonight so there's no problem with visibility.** **Having principle of saving the best dish the last, it's time to check for the weapons and armors.** **  
**

Pyrrha's ears perked up as she paid close attention to the images appearing on the screen. "I wonder what he got?" she mumbled in childish excitement.

"Sometimes it's really hard to think of Pyrrha as a fellow girl you know?" Yang whispered to Blake who nodded in agreement. Pyrrha was probably the least vain girl any of them had met, she hardly cared for her appearance and focused more on how to better crush someone under her foot than how to take care of her hair or skin.

 **I sort the type to show materials and corpses. According to the log, there are only a few lizardmen and dragon newt corpses. This is most likely because of the meteorite, having received the full blow, there won't be many remains. However, there is a lot of dragon's corpse. Defeated Log shows that there are 2-3 times as many. This place became like a dragon version of an elephant's graveyard.**

 **Most are materials from body parts, but there are also iron ingots, medicinal plants, timber, and stone. They're probably from the things crushed by the meteorites. Random body parts and scales are many. Regardless of type, there are 7.9600K of them. Even an old dragon skin mold and husk exist.**

"I wonder if alchemy exists in this world," Ruby muttered softly. "I mean what else all of those things would do for him?" she asked seeing the weird looks her friends were giving her.

 **"Huge, if the scale is this big, wonder how huge is the body."** **Losing to curiosity, I took out an adult dragon's scale, it's about 50 cm. While I'm at it, I took out lower dragon's scale to check, it's palm size.**

"That's pretty big for a single scale," Blake noted idly. "Makes you wonder how big the actual dragon was." The others nodded trying to imagine something with such big scales.

 **[Broken] item are put in a specific folder. I was thinking of throwing it away but stopped since it could become a literal mountain of garbage.** **Finally, it's equipment.** **  
**

Pyrrha leaned forward her eyes gleaming with curiosity and eagerness. None of her friends said anything but it was clear to any outside observer that they were amused.

 **There are around 30K things. The Scale tribe's spears are especially abundant, things which begin with [Scale Tribe's~] are around 20K. Neither are magic items, they're all normal items made of copper or iron. There are only a few strange armors.**

 **I tried taking out a scale tribe's spear. 2-meter long wooden handle with sharpened bone tip comes out. It can't pierce when I tried it out so it probably isn't a war spear.**

Pyrrha made a circular motion with her hand as if urging the images to go faster. The rest of team JNPR forced back their laughter as they watched their friend.

 **The magic items are such things like [Dragon Skin Armor] or [Dragon Scale Armor], seems like items blessed by the dominant tribe are around 100. Those are probably Scale Tribe armor.** **The remaining 10K of half are [Dragon] based large swords, spears, and bows. These are probably legacy from the (scale tribe) people who beat dragons.**

Pyrrha's eyes gleamed as she watched Satou reveal various armors and weapons as mentioned while Team RWBY watched her in surprise.

 **The special effects kind are jewelry, but I don't understand the effects so let's put it off for now.** **There are several interesting things, especially [Holy Sword] and [Divine Sword]** **  
** **My long lost Chuuni heart is stimulated.**

"Chuuni?" Weiss asked not understanding the term.

"Well basically…it's someone who is delusional or who has delusions of grandeur." Blake pulled out her scroll and pulled up a video "Like this guy." Weiss watched the video silently before looking up at Blake with a raised eyebrow.

"This is a young boy."

"They usually are."

 **Why are these [Holy Sword]'s are named [Excalibur], [Durandal] and such?** **  
** **There are also katanas named [Muramasa] and [Kotetsu]** **"Tension up~"**

"He looks happy," Pyrrha noted with what could be a tinge of jealousy in her voice.

 **I enjoy wielding Excalibur. It should be quite heavy but I swing it carelessly. Beautiful traces of light come out. However, for physical weapons isn't sword disadvantageous? But it's popular in flashy games.** **  
** **Oh yeah, there is no specific name for the Divine Blade.** **I expected to get sword skill when I wielded the sword, but it didn't happen. It will likely come out if I defeat an enemy with a sword.**

"What's he even going to do with so many swords?" Jaune asked curiously. "I mean there's no way he could wield them all right?"

 **Unusual things also exist. Cannons and ballistae that are usually placed on the fort to counter flying enemy in the sky. Skimming the descriptions, it seems that it seems that it doesn't use gunpowder, but magic power instead.** **Another one, it's a gun!** **  
** **Handgun 100, Rifle 50. Magic powered gun 12. Just for the record, there are no guns in FFW. There are cannons in WW though.** **  
** **I take out the smallest magic gun.** **  
** **It's a Derringer sized gun with excessive ornaments. The trigger guard is attached.**

"Derringer?" Jaune asked looking at Ruby.

"It's a small two-shot gun you can hide in your sleeve or boot," Ruby explained as she grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began sketching it out. "Kinda looks like this." She stated holding it up for everyone to see.

 **In the real world, guns have safety locks, over here it's a switch with 0, 1, 3, 10 scale. I set the scale to 1.** **I aim at a rock nearby with one hand and pull the trigger.** **A psshh sound comes out, yet no trace of the shot could be seen.** **  
** **When I confirm the rock, a hole about as big as a 10 yen coin penetrated it. It's a 2-meter thick hard rock. MP consumption is 1. There is no recoil, it's a laser gun like feeling. This is totally SF instead of fantasy.** **  
** **With scale set at 10, the rock completely crushed. This would kill Ogre level demons in one shoot. MP consumption is 10.**

"Totally looks science fiction instead of fantasy now doesn't it?" Yang asked Blake who looked totally confused by the out of place equipment.

 **"It's way too efficient."** **It's an item that would totally break the balance of a game. No one would want to use magic.** **After that, I played around with the gun while moving for 1 hour.**

"BOO that gun is unfair!" Nora shouted while Ren rolled his eyes.

 **Finished checking items in general, I began thinking about something that bugged me before.** **"What is Source anyway?"** **  
** **I mutter to myself.** **It's about the [Source: Conquered Dragon God Valley] from the log.** **...this is probably not related to tax withholding.**

"Admittedly that's been bugging me too," Blake stated as she thought about what it could mean.

"Well we probably won't know until Satou does, so I don't think we should spend too much time thinking about it," Weiss mentioned getting nods of agreement from the others.

 **Besides on the log, there's no mention of [Source: Conquered Dragon God Valley] anywhere else.** **  
** **Usually, I would have said "It's a dream anyway" but something is bugging me.** **  
** **Having a change of pace by thinking while running, I feel like coming up with something, I'm immersed in running while feeling good, I feel like anything's good.** **I'm incoherent if I do so say myself.** **  
** **Spending many days without any conversation is no good after all. I'm not suited for that.**

Weiss hummed "So his isolation is starting to adversely affect him is it?" she wondered aloud "I hope it doesn't turn into one of those weird slasher type stories." Everyone shivered at the thought.

"A level 310 psychopathic murderer…" Yang cringed at the thought. "Yeah let's not go there."

 **I've walked for 1 day before I knew it, and finally almost reached the highway.** **  
** **There is no human habitation according to the map. I can see the highway leading to west on the North West.** **  
** **By the way, there's no presence beside me displayed on the map.** **  
** **I wonder if they ran away in fear of that catastrophe aka meteorite shower with thunderous roaring and earthquakes.** **  
** **I stopped the half-baked running and began walking.** **"I want to take a bath~"** **As expected, not having one in 3 days make my head itchy.** **  
** **It's not possible to boil water, but there is water. Thankfully the dust cloud has lessened, it's possible to wash off the dirt.**

"Ugh…going three days without at least taking a shower sounds horrible." Blake shivered as did everyone else as they tried to imagine it.

 **I store my clothes and shoes into storage, find a suitable rock and pour water down from the top of my head.** **"It's a bit cold, but I've come back to life."** **Feeling relieved, I took out clean clothes from the loot and wipe off the water.** **  
** **In order to take a refreshing nap, I take out a suitable bed with canopy from the loot and put it on the ground.** **That day I slept for the first time after 3 days.**

"That must be bliss," Jaune noted simply. "Being able to wash and sleep after three days."

 **The next morning, I noticed that I could hang laundry on the canopy so I wash my clothes with a bucket from storage and hang them up, side by side.** **After that, I lazed around on the bed while eating jerky for half a day.** **  
** **I'm expecting that someone will pass on the highway, but there's no change in radar, even until afternoon.**

"Well, I suppose I would want to take a break and just laze around after walking for three days straight," Pyrrha muttered having recovered from her weapon fanaticism.

 **"If this was a light novel or manga, I would have met a princess being attacked by thief~"** **I like template ay.** **"The service in my dream is so bad."**

"He's completely ignoring the good things that have happened to him already isn't he?" Ruby muttered with a somewhat heavy sigh. "I can't wait until he realizes it isn't a dream."

 **I turn a blind eye to the fact that I easily get treasures and significant level up, cursing my luck.** **  
** **A flag would occur if this was a dream or tale, but nothing happened.** **After changing into the dry clothes, I began walking toward the highway.**

"Well that was chapter three, it looks like we're about to either find other people soon or he's going to do some more experimentation next chapter," Ruby noted as she marked their place in the book before closing it.

"Oh my, did you finish the chapter?" Fox asked walking into the room carrying a large tray. With a lid covering the contents.

"Yeah, it was more information though." Blake nodded before asking what was on everyone's mind "what did you make?"

"Cream Puffs," Fox revealed as he took off the lid revealing over a hundred medium-sized pastries with some sort of filling stacked neatly in a pyramid.

Everyone's eyes sparkled at the delicious looking treats as they all began eating some. "I'm glad you all enjoy them." Fox smiled kindly as Yang took the book from Ruby.

"I'll read the next chapter." She stated after finishing off her Cream Puff.

* * *

(To Be Continued)

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I'll see you all in two weeks.


	4. Reading 1 - 4

Sorry, this is a little late, I got caught up in other things. Anyways here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

(BREAK)

Yang cleared her throat and read the chapter title.

 **1-4. Abandoned Village, Skill, and Lost Child**

Pausing she frowned in thought. "Seriously…more information when are we getting to the fun stuff?" she asked looking at Fox who merely shrugged his shoulders as he popped a Cream Puff into his mouth.

"I know as much about this story as you do Yang." He explained as he handed Nora another Cream Puff while Ren eyed her warily.

 **"Hello, Suzuki's here. It's so lonely, I may die of loneliness."**

 **I truly, genuinely want a companion.** **  
** **After reaching the highway, I got lost on the route; it's been 7 days since then and I still haven't reached a human habitat.**

Blake shivered. "Can you imagine going more than a week without a single person to talk to?" she asked causing the others in the room to shiver. "I think I'd be close to going insane in his position."

Jaune rubbed his arms with another shiver. "Yeah…no scroll, no people, not even a sign so Far." He muttered quietly. **  
**

 **Speaking of which, somehow I got these skills: [Sprint], [3 Dimensional Maneuver], [Jump], [Sing], [Camping] and [Washing].** **  
** **However, those skills remain grey because I haven't allocated any points to them.**

 **I seemed to have learned [Sprint] [3D Maneuver] and [Jump] after the second meteor shower but overlooked it due to the confusion.**

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "3D Maneuver?" she muttered aloud. "I suppose it means something along the lines of movement outside horizontal and vertical lines."

Ruby grinned "It really does seem like he gets a new skill whenever he does something new!" she laughed as she considered if that applied to real life. "Can you imagine what kinds of skills we'd all have if we were in his place?"

Ren smiled softly "I'd imagine I'd have: Jump, 3D Maneuver, sprint, martial arts, dagger, gun, forging and cooking."

Nora grinned "don't forget dancing!" she added in causing Ren to blush. "I bet I'd have: hammer, explosives, forging, sprint, jump, 3D Maneuver, and hair styling!"

"Hairstyling?" Jaune asked curiously.

"How do you think Ren has such gorgeous locks?" Nora asked with a conspiring whisper. "What about you Jaune? What skills would you have if you were in Satou's place?"

Jaune blinked at the question before thinking on it. "Well I guess I'd have: Sword, Shield, jumping, sprinting, tactical thinking, cultivation, weeding, cooking, sewing, knitting, painting, woodcraft, bribery, and dancing."

Yang snickered "Well he is a farm boy after all." She stage whispered.

"I also have seven sisters, five older two younger." Jaune supplied with a deadpan expression.

Pyrrha just looked concerned. "Why would you have bribery?"

Jaune blushed "Sometimes I get my sisters to do things for me." He mumbled embarrassedly. "Like eating the liver cause they all know I hate liver."

Ruby nodded her head in agreement "Have totally done something similar with Yang." She admitted easily. "What'd you do for your sisters though?"

Jaune turned red in the face. "I'd…rather not talk about It." He muttered while looking away from everyone. "Anyways what about you Pyrrha? What skills would you have?"

The Spartan blinked before placing a hand on her chin in thought. "I believe I would have: Spear, Sword, Shield, rifle, throwing, hand to hand, jumping, sprinting, 3D Maneuver, acting, dancing, and polarity." The others all smacked their foreheads realizing they had forgotten to consider their semblances for possible skills they'd have.

Ruby grinned as she waved her arms through the air "Me next, me next!" she cried causing Weiss to palm her face while Yang grinned and Blake smiled softly. "I bet I'd have: jumping, sprinting, 3D maneuver, sniping, scythe, baking, forging, leadership, and quickstep!"

"Quickstep?" Weiss questioned, "Ruby just because your semblance is speed related doesn't mean you'd have two speed-related skills." She tried to reason with the younger girl.

"But my semblance is more than mere speed boost Weiss!" Ruby whined as she tried to explain things to the others. "If I go fast enough I actually turn my body into rose petals that can move according to my will!"

"Then why haven't you?" Blake asked curiously.

"I can't control it yet…" Ruby muttered as she poked her fingers together. "And sometimes when I try my body reforms without my clothes…"

Blake blushed but nodded her head in understanding. "I see, that makes sense." She muttered while filing that information for later. "What about you Weiss? What would your skills be?"

Weiss huffed but considered the question nonetheless. "I suppose it would be: fencing, jumping, 3D Maneuver, glyphs, summoning, embroidery, singing, dancing, ice skating, and I guess piano."

"You can sing?" Ruby asked looking at Weiss intently. "Why haven't been informed of this?"

"You never asked you dolt," Weiss muttered while looking away from the young reaper.

"Tsun, tsun." Yang declared while making kissing noises behind Weiss causing the white-haired girl to growl "What about you Xiao Long?" she questioned pointing a finger at Yang's face.

Yang grinned as she thought about the question. "Well, I'd definitely have hand to hand, jump, sprint, 3D maneuver, forging, hair styling, interrogation, distraction, and kinetic absorption."

Before anyone could ask Yang about interrogation Blake spoke up "I guess it's my turn then." She muttered, "I'd likely have: stealth, cloning, sprint, jump, 3D maneuver, assassination, abduction, interrogation, pickpocket, sword, gun, and whip, poker face, forging, and cooking." Everyone stared at her silently "I already said I was trained in stuff I didn't actually have to use it."

"Right…let's go back to the story." Yang declared while everyone else nodded their heads.

 **When I was playing around with the gun, the map got in the way so I changed it and the log to icon view, then I noticed something. From the log it's written as a place with bed and canopy but...** **  
** **Isn't that a camping ground? I retorted myself.**

 **Onto 8th day, I finally found a village-like place on the wide area map.** **  
** **I sprinted to the village. However, there's no presence of people according to the map. I wonder if they're taking refuge or got destroyed. No, they should've gone back if they were taking refuge since it's been one week.**

"So his little rest area is now a campground." Pyrrha muttered observantly "does that mean it's a safe area from enemies?"

Yang nodded her head. "Well if it was a game that followed those types of rules." She explained for Pyrrha. "Some games don't have safe zones." The Spartan warrior nodded her head in understanding before gesturing for Yang to continue.

"Before you begin, how long do you think this village like place has been there?" Blake asked pointing out the area displayed.

"My guess is a long time since it seems like it has been abandoned for a while," Ren replied while watching the proceedings seriously. "Yang, please continue."

 **Before long I reached the junction road heading to the village.** **There stood a crude guidepost on the roadside. A 1.5 meter commonly made stick nailed to the ground. The destination is written with something like ink.** **"I can't read it..."**

"I can't read it either," Ruby muttered as she tried to read the sign. "All I see are squares and circles."

"It must mean that the language of the world is different from his own," Nora shouted exuberantly. "I wonder if they have pancakes too!" the orange-haired girl drooled a little at the thought. Ren palmed his face while motioning for Yang to proceed.

 **Something is written there, but I can't read it at all. At least, it's different from all the languages I recognize from the real world. In fact, it looks like some sort of fictional writing from a game.** **I keep the map on maximum magnification, showing wide area.** **  
** **While feeling slightly irritated for not being able to read the long-awaited clue, I hit the junction on the map. There's no actual meaning to this action, but this time it seems to be a bull's eye.**

"Well, it seems like Nora was right," Fox muttered as he stood up once more. "Is anyone still hungry? Also, does anyone want something to drink?" he questioned while looking around.

"Some tea would be nice." Ren requested mirrored by Weiss and Blake.

"You have strawberry sunrise?" Yang asked looking excited.

"No alcohol."

"Damn it…" Yang scratched her head trying to think of something. "Then…how about a soda? You got cherry?" Fox nodded his head while turning towards the others.

"I'll have a soda as well." Jaune requested "Grape please."

"Hot chocolate!" Ruby waved energetically while Nora nodded her head rapidly in agreement.

"Just water for me," Pyrrha asked politely with a small smile as Fox stepped out of the room.

 **"'Welcome to Enikei Village', 'Seryuu City 32Km','Until Kazo Kingdom 105Km'; I can read it! ...Or rather, it's in Japanese!"** **Pop up displays pile up above the map, each written in Japanese. Is this an effect of All Map Exploration? Cheers for opportunism.**

"That's convenient," Blake muttered in jealousy. "It would be so nice to have a translator like that." She muttered thinking about how many conflicts could've been avoided if everyone could just talk.

"What is a KM?" Ruby asked looking completely lost.

"It means a Kilometer," Blake explained getting another lost look form the girl. "Basically a thousand meters is one Kilometer."

"Oh, that's cool." Ruby nodded her head in understanding.

 **For the time being, Seryuu City seems to be the closest from here, but it's too plain.** **After all this time, let's go to the village first. I know that there's no one there, but I feel like I'm losing if I head straight on!** **  
** **There might be some hidden quests there! If this is my dream, there must be one!**

"Secret quests have the best rewards!" Yang declared suddenly getting an odd look from Weiss who had never played such games before while Blake rolled her eyes.

 **The village comes into view on the other side of the field in just about 5 minutes. Between the narrow streets extends fields that looks like they have been abandoned for about a year. It's a world of weeds.** **Even from a distance, I can distinguish that many houses look burnt down. Every house has one thing in common; the roof is completely burned down.**

"Looks like it was attacked," Weiss noted simply as she offered a simple prayer for the former residents.

 **Judging from the position it seems to be a "Village Abandoned by the Attack of the Dragons".** **There are no bones lying around, but many things like harvest baskets, wooden shoes, and various farming tools are scattered around as if they were left behind in a hurry.**

"It must be because they were near Dragon Valley." Blake surmised as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

 **As I stared at the tools lying around, though it's too exaggerated to call it a revelation, I got a little idea.** **"If I got washing skill from doing laundry. Maybe I'll get something if I dig some farmland?"**

"Even Satou is starting to realize he gets things out of doing normal things," Pyrrha muttered in relief. "For a second I thought he was like a standard dumb as brick protagonist."

 **I took the hoe and dug the farmland with it.** **[Cultivation Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Farming Skill Acquired]**

Jaune blinked "Oh so I'd have the farming skill as well." He noted seeing the pop-up. "Then I guess I'd also have harvesting skill."

 **It appeared on the log as expected. Though I didn't expect cultivation to pop up.** **  
** **In order to get better, I'll try many other things.** **Suddenly, I pluck what appears to be a vegetable peeping out between the weeds.** **[Harvest Skill Acquired]**

"Wow, Jaune you predicted it!" Ruby giggled while Jaune scratched his cheek with a blush adorning his cheeks.

 **It's a bit fun.** **  
** **Even so, it's easy mode, eh?** **  
** **Come to think of it, what is this vegetable? Is it spinach, komatsuna?**

 **I stared at it and AR message saying "Hisaya Grass, leafy vegetables. It's seldom eaten raw, usually processed as condiment or pickles." popped up on over the vegetables.** **  
**

"It does seem a little easy for him to get skills and the like." Ren acknowledged as he folded his arms. "At the same time, I wouldn't complain since it makes surviving a lot easier."

"Yeah, imagine if we were all super high levels in real life!" Nora cheered happily as Fox came back with their drinks in hand. Taking her hot chocolate Nora took a deep gulp before sighing happily. "If we were all level 310 or whatever it is the Grimm would all be wiped out and we'd be out of a job!"

"That…is a very good point," Weiss muttered in surprise.

 **Yep, it's convenient alright. Seems like this is a different function than the map search.**

 **Incidentally, I tried pulling out weeds.** **[Weeding Skill Acquired]**

"Well, I guess weeding is a skill in itself," Yang muttered while scratching her head. "But what would you use it for unless you're a farmer?"

 **I didn't cut it, I just pulled it.** **I went into something that looks like a windbreak, I take out an ax and chop down a suitable tree.** **[Lumbering Skill Acquired]**

"Oh yeah, lumber!" Ruby shouted in surprise "I totally forgot that you need to chop your own wood in some games to get crafting items!"

 **I wonder what next? I feel like trying some ideas.** **  
** **I write a mathematical formula on the ground with the hoe.** **  
** **『** **1+1=2** **』** **, there.** **[Arithmetic Skill Acquired]**

"Wait arithmetic is a skill?" Weiss muttered in surprise. "It's not like…a basic component of living?"

"I guess not…" Pyrrha muttered feeling sympathy for the citizens of a world where learning how to add numbers together was a learned skill and not a taught skill in something like school or by parents.

 **Fumu, if this is OK then** **『** **E=mc²** **』** **[Lost Knowledge Skill Acquired]** **The famous theory of relativity is lost knowledge?** **  
** **I'd rather get a flying skill or some such...**

"So things like physics and science is lost knowledge?" Blake muttered curiously. "I wonder what else is considered lost knowledge."

 **This time I'm writing some random characters in Japanese.** **  
** **[Painting Skill Acquired]** **  
**

"Literally he does anything with intent in mind and it gives him a skill…" Jaune muttered enviously. "That would be so nice to have." The others all nodded in agreement.

 **Painter-san would be mad.** **  
** **Next, I wrote ○× alternatively which made it looks like a children's play.**

 **[Game Skill Acquired]**

"Oh, games are a skill too!" Ruby cheered

 **is anything fine?** **I begin trying one thing after another.** **  
** **I tried shaving the burned wood on the back of a house with a knife in the shape of a stick.** **[Carpenter Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Weapon Creation Skill Acquired]**

"I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore," Blake muttered as she palmed her face while shaking her head.

"Can you imagine a level ten weapon creation skill?" Ruby whispered with wide star-filled eyes. "What could I make my baby into with something like that?" she muttered in an awestruck voice.

 **In addition, I wrap the stick with leather I took out of the storage.** **[Leather Craft Skill Acquired]** **  
**

"Does that even count as leather crafting?" Jaune asked Pyrrha while pointing at the screen. Pyrrha sweat dropped and shrugged her shoulders.

 **Making a makeshift broom I sweep it under my foot.**

 **[Cleaning Skill Acquired]** **  
**

Weiss felt her eye twitching as she rubbed her forehead. "Even cleaning is a skill." She muttered in shock. "I don't know why this is so surprising to me."

 **I'm running out of material. When I tried to find more I discovered a cemetery with a native god shrine.** **  
** **Since I grew up in the countryside, I inadvertently join hands as if praying for my grandmother.** **  
** **I offered some jerky and poured some sake cup.**

 **[Prayer Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Title: Devout Believer Acquired]** **  
**

"OOOOOHHH new title!" Nora shouted joyfully. "Do they do anything though?" she asked looking up in thought while she crossed her arms.

"Wait praying is a skill?" Pyrrha asked in disbelief. Her statement went largely ignored as Yang continued reading.

 **Umu, I didn't intend to get a skill but...**

 **The material is dry already, I began to get tired of the skill-acquiring, let's get out of the village.** **  
** **It's sunset just as I depart on the highway.** **  
** **I'm walking toward Seryuu City, according to the guidepost. After accustoming my eyes under the moonlight, in the dark, I sprint down the highway.**

"Finally some interaction with other people!" Yang shouted suddenly scaring Ruby who had been leaning forward to see the screen better.

"Yang don't suddenly shout like that!" Ruby shouted as she held her chest above her heart. "You scared me!" Yang grinned playfully and stuck her tongue out at Ruby who responded in kind causing Weiss to roll her eyes while Blake smiled despite herself.

 **When it's near dawn, the wide area map showed the whole Seryuu City. Of course, unlike Enikei Village it has a lot of people.** **"Finally, finally civilization~~~"** **I cry while trembling with the expectation of finally talking with people.** **...This is such a long dream. Don't you think so?**

"IT'S NOT A DREAM SATOU!" everyone in the room groaned out as Yang placed a marker in the book and held it up.

"Well, who's next?" She asked while looking around. She saw Nora pointing at Ren so she dropped the book onto his lap getting an annoyed look from the quiet male.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As usual, feel free to ask questions or leave reviews, and I will see you all next time.


	5. Reading 1 - 5

Here is the next chapter of RWBY Reads.

* * *

(BREAK)

Ren noted how hopeful Nora was and sighed tiredly. "Let it be known I do this under protest." He stated giving his longtime friend a wry look which went completely ignored by the bubbly girl.

 **1-5. Fortress City Life Begin!**

 **I finally got to Seryuu city.** **  
** **Let's strip it naked with [All Map Exploration]!**

"OOHHH Satou, don't you know you need to take a lady out before stripping her naked?" Yang asked while licking her lips causing Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha to blush, Ruby and Nora to tilt their heads in confusion, and Blake and Ren to palm their faces.

 **The population is around 120,000. It's a remote region within the Shiga Kingdom ruled by an earl. 95% are from the human tribes, the other 5% are beast tribes, scale tribes, and fairy tribes. The average level is 2-3. The highest level is an old man magician who is 48. The knights range from 5-20 with most of them on 8-12. Normal soldiers are around 5-7. There are a lot of bows as a dragon countermeasure. Male to female ratio is 5:6 with lots of females. It's unknown whether it's because of the difference in birth rate or because of a high male mortality rate.**

"So there are people similar to Faunus in this world," Blake muttered happily as she considered that fact. "I wonder if they're treated the same way as Faunus." She frowned at that line of thinking.

Weiss, on the other hand, was more interested in the other less populated tribes. "Scale and Fairy tribes?" she wondered aloud trying to imagine them. "I guess Scale tribes would be similar to the lizard men of Dragon Valley?" she surmised getting nods of agreement from the others.

Pyrrha frowned "It must be hard to live in that kind of world if the average level of a normal civilian is 2-3 while a soldier is anywhere between 5-20." She noted drawing everyone to the level disparity.

"Doesn't that just mean this area is relatively safe?" Ruby questioned somewhat nervously as she tried to avoid thinking of the alternative reasons.

"I hope your right Ruby," Jaune muttered as he rubbed his arms nervously.

 **Unexpectedly, townspeople only have a few skills. Most of them have 1-3 skills, some even none. Having 20 or so skills may be the exception rather than the rule.** **Only a few magicians exist. There are only around 2000 people with magic skills. 90% of them have Livelihood magic while the remaining 10% seem to belong to the country's army.**

"That… that sucks." Nora stated as she heard that. "Just how much of our stuff would we be lacking if we were normal people in that world?" she asked terrified of the answer. Suddenly a thought struck her. "That said…I wonder what levels we'd be if we were to suddenly appear there right now…" Despite the lack of answers, Nora nodded in satisfaction seeing some of her friends thinking about her question.

 **It's as expected in a way, but level 310 is truly extraordinary. In addition, I got carried away and learned a lot of useless skills which would make me conspicuous.** **The map could show the name of the streets and merchant's houses to some degree. Even though it could not tell you what kind of item they're selling or their reputation, it's still quite useful for a first look of the town. Unfortunately, the search function only works for people, I could not find shops with it.** **  
** **Seen from reduced scale, the town is shaped like a 6 Km diameter oval, along with two 3 Km long [** **くの** **] shaped, bowing daruma-like objects attached on each side.**

"So a fairly small town?" Yang asked looking at everyone else. "Right six Kilometers isn't that big of a city is it?"

Blake shook her head. "No, Vale alone is roughly twenty-five kilometers wide."

 **I enlarge the map and confirm each area...** **  
** **First, closest to the gate, there seems to be a general residential area. Beside the gate are stables and inns. Joining them, the local lord's castle is located in the center of the neighborhood. Something like a temple or magic-something is at the center of the city. Far from the gate, the lord's mansion stands. And a cafeteria that looks too small for city use, but too big as an exclusive for the local lord.** **  
** **When I tried to search for people with [Adventurer] as a job, I got nothing. There was no [Librarian] either, which probably mean there's no library. However, there were some [Slaves]...**

"Slavery…" Pyrrha wrinkled her nose in distaste at the word. "I can't understand the desire to control others at such a level."

"Yeah…" Yang agreed before ruining the mood as only she could "Unless it's slave play! Then I totally understand!" she grinned as everyone turned as red as Ruby's hood.

 **After checking so many things, I've arrived at the front of the gate. Showing up together with the sun in the horizon, perfect timing! Though the gate is closed at this time.** **I thought that there would be other people in front of the gate but there was actually no one.** **  
** **It would be nice if there are some villagers who are going to sell their vegetables in the morning.**

"There's probably someone there." Ren mused aloud as he paused in order to rub his eyes.

"You okay Ren?" Jaune asked seeing his team member rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just a little sleepy." The martial artist admitted as he stretched his arms above his head and continued to read.

 **Is it only in my dream that stores don't open until 10 in the morning?!** **Wearing a polo shirt and chinos pant might be too noticeable. I searched the storage, found several robes and took out the only non-worn-out dark green robe to wear. The remaining robes are magic tools but they're too worn-out, I can't bring myself to wear them. This robe smells a bit like mold.**

"I guess that's smart," Blake muttered as she looked at her own attire. "I suppose we'd have to change our outfits too." She noted sadly.

"NEVER!" Ruby shouted startling the others around her as she held onto her hood as if they were going to take it from her. "You'll never take my hood!" Yang sighed while shrugging her shoulders when Weiss looked at her with a raised brow.

 **My body looks like the time when I was 15 with its small stature. The robe is too long and is dragging a little on the floor. Thanks to that, the sneakers are hidden. My mustache didn't even grow after one week. I was so happy and showed it off when it grew during the freshman period of university life. Though, I shaved it immediately when I got a girlfriend...**

"I guess teenage boys are the same everywhere," Yang noted while sending a grin at Ren and Jaune.

"I don't get it," Jaune muttered while looking at Ren for help only to receive a shrug in response.

"Your mustaches don't you two shave every day to look clean for your girls?" Blake asked curiously since she honestly didn't know the two boys that personally.

"I've never had facial hair," Ren admitted while Jaune agreed.

"Really?" Weiss asked in surprise "Does that mean neither of you hit puberty yet?" she questioned getting odd looks from the boys.

"Weiss…." Ren began slowly as he took a deep breath. "I've been looking after Nora for most of my life."

"I have seven sisters…all of whom are very…gifted in the looks department," Jaune admitted while scratching his cheeks.

"So Ren skipped teenager and went straight to the old man while Jaune is just too used to pretty big chested girls to be affected by them?" Yang grinned. "No wonder he likes Weiss."

"HEY!"

 **While having a recollection of the past, I continue to wait for the gate to open.** **「** **！** **！！」**

Everyone stared at the screen in confusion. "Did… did anyone understand that?" Pyrrha asked her voice betraying her confusion. Everyone shook their heads in the negative.

 **When I got near the gate an uncle soldier came out while saying some unknown words.** **  
** **The long-awaited conversation featuring a mysterious language!** **Shiga Language Skill Acquired!**

"Easy mode for the win!" Ruby shouted happily "Wait…that means just knowing how to speak is a skill?" she muttered with a twitching eyebrow. "Doesn't that mean there are people in this town who can't speak at all?"

Blake shook her head. "I think it might be related to literacy." She offered an alternative reason. "So some people might not be able to read or write.

 **I love Easy Mode!** **  
** **God hasn't forsaken me!** **I operated the menu and acquired the Shiga language skills extremely fast! Overenthusiastically allocated 10 skill points with glee.**

"Meaning he is going to be unmatched in the use of this language right?" Weiss asked looking around for confirmation. "Though I suppose that would be hard to determine."

 **"What's wrong kiddo? Do you have a stomachache?"** **A bearded soldier follows suit. I don't think calling a man in the latter half of his twenty, "kiddo", is right... Oh, that's right, my outer appearance is that of 15 years old.**

"Hey, have you guys ever wondered what you'll look like when you're older?" Jaune suddenly asked getting odd looks. "My sisters keep telling me I'll have to beat girls off with a stick when I'm older…" he offered as an explanation.

"I had always assumed I'd end up looking like my older sister Winter," Weiss admitted.

"I never really thought about it," Ruby muttered as she poked her fingers together. "I hope I'm pretty like Mom was."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Yang agreed while hugging her sister. "Me? I'd probably be a bombshell!"

Nora booed her again. "Your puns suck and so do your jokes!"

"Nora behave," Ren ordered as he chopped her head.

"I'm sure I'd look similar to how I do right now," Pyrrha stated with a smile.

 **"Good morning. Yes, I'm fine."** **I replied amiably with a vague smile, a trademark of Japanese people. Even if the partner is a middle-aged uncle, it's a human after a long time. A smile is only 0 Yen!**

"God that sounds like Blake when she's in one of her moods," Yang muttered causing the Faunus to glare at her.

 **The heavy gate opened behind us during the conversation.** **"Kiddo, show me your identification per the rules. If you don't have one, pay the 1 copper coin tax."**

"ID in a different world." Pyrrha hummed in thought. "I wonder what it looks like."

 **What-! ID in a dream!** **  
** **I thought of showing the driver license from my wallet but it looked like it'd be troublesome so I stopped.** **"I'm sorry, I don't have an ID card."**

"Honesty is probably best in this situation." Blake agreed with Satou's actions. "Besides he has enough money."

"Yeah, must be nice to not have to worry about money ever again," Yang muttered jealously.

 **I honestly say it. If I got refused then I could just stealthily go in, if I got caught then I'd just run. I'm seriously acting self-important inside this dream! Yes, a dream! This is a dream!** **"Did you lose it? We could issue a new one but that'd be 1 silver coin, ya okay with that?"**

"Way too easy." Both teams muttered in deadpan

 **Oi, oi, can you so easily issue a new one?** **  
** **There are some Shiga silver coins in the storage if I'm not mistaken.** **"Please allow me to get a new one! My horse, surprised by the loud roar 8 days ago, escaped while carrying my luggage. If I haven't got beef jerky in my pocket and didn't find some spring water on the way here, I would have been dead!**

"Oh, that actually sounds believable." Blake seemed surprised as she noted the excuse Satou gave.

"Maybe now he'll get some skills." Nora grinned as she folded her hands behind her head.

 **I'm a smooth talker if I do say myself~ I may truly have a talent for swindling.** **  
** **As if responding to my inner monologue :** **[Excuse Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Deception Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Negotiation Skill Acquired]** **Cheap skills!**

"HOLY PANCAKES I WAS RIGHT!" Nora shouted in surprise before looking up at the ceiling. "I want pancakes!" Fox promptly dropped a pancake onto her face. "YAY!" The others just looked amused by the whole thing as Ren merely sighed and shook his head.

 **"Come here kiddo!"** **Uncle soldier beckons me to the guard station located beside the gate.** **  
** **Even after telling excuses with great pain, uncle soldier just ignored it. His ignorability power-level is too high!**

"Satou used deceive." Yang began

"It wasn't very effective." Ruby finished causing everyone who knew the reference to laugh while the ones who didn't, Weiss, looked confused.

 **"Just in case, you're not on some wanted list or a thief, right?"** **  
** **"Yes, of course."** **I'm a member of general public unrelated to crime~**

"Why does that make me think he actually is a criminal?" Pyrrha wondered while squinting her eyes as she tried to figure out why she didn't believe those words.

"It's because he drew out the last word, it's typically a sign of dishonesty," Blake explained for her causing the red-haired warrior to thank her.

 **"Then, put both of your hands on top of this Yamato stone and speak your name."** **Uncle guided me to the place with a 20" wide LCD display inside the guard station. Where in Yamato can this Yamato stone take me? Can it go to space?**

"Before you ask, there is a TV series called Spaceship Yamato in my creator's world," Fox explained while looking through a screen on his lap. "And I'm reading the news. Nothing related to you kids is in here."

 **For a name, it should be character name right~** **"Satou."** **Right after I spoke my character name. The lithograph started to dimly shine with blue light, and some words appeared.** **  
** **It's the same letter as the one on the guidepost earlier. I could properly read it thanks to Shiga language skill. I want an English language skill!**

"I actually hate how he draws out some of his words," Yang muttered while crossing her arms with a huff. "For some reason it makes me want to punch him."

"He has a really punchable face." Ruby agreed, making her non-related team members look at her oddly.

 **"Kiddo, it's fine to release your hand now."** **On the lithograph, [Race: Human], [Level: 1], [Class: Commoner], [Affiliation: None], [Occupation Type: Management], [Title: None], [Skill: None], [Reward and Punishment: None] are written.** **Eh, isn't the level different?**

"That's totally wrong though," Jaune muttered while scratching his head.

"Maybe because he's using a different name," Weiss suggested. "Because his actual name is Suzuki Ichiro, not Satou as far as the world is concerned Ichiro got to level 310 while Satou hasn't done anything at all yet."

"It makes sense." Ren agreed.

 **Leaving me puzzled, uncle soldier smoothly wrote the displayed writing from the lithograph onto a paper using a quill. Finally, he stamped the entry form, [Person Approving: Retainer of Earl Souryuu, Knight Soun], with his ring on the place where his name is written.** **"Here, don't lose it next time."**

"What a nice old man," Nora muttered happily

 **Uncle Soldier passes me the certificate while I give him a silver coin and one big copper coin taken from my pocket.** **"What, you can properly put money in your pocket. Aren't you quite watchful! Keep your ID safe from now on."**

"He really does seem competent." Blake agreed with Nora's assessment. "Just a normal soldier doing his job. And trying to do it well."

 **"Also, don't forget this. A residence permit is only for 10 days. If you want to stay longer, apply your request here or at the ward in the town hall. Wherever it is, the procedure costs 3 copper coin."** **"If you're caught in town with an expired permit during a homeless hunt, the penalty will be 1 silver coin. If you can't pay it, you'll be forced to become a slave."**

"That…seems harsh," Ruby muttered sadly. "Being forced into slavery because you can't pay a penalty fine."

The teams agreed before Fox spoke up. "In my creator's world, there was a country that took slaves based on the color of their skin." He waved off the horrified looks the teams sent him as he continued to read his news.

 **The explanation flowed smoothly as if he's always doing it.** **  
** **Let's be careful not to forget it.** **  
** **Falling from vagrant to slave is severe! I wonder if it's the same with homeless hunting during the Edo period.** **"Thank you very much."** **  
** **"Ou, you're welcome to the guard station for consultation if there's any trouble. Don't mind about the fee."**

"Well, at least Satou won't have to worry about it," Pyrrha stated trying to lift everyone's spirits.

 **I've heard something good. Thank you, knight Soun.** **  
** **I go out of the guard station with a polite farewell.** **I took quite a bit of time inside the station, that the main road from before to inside the gate is now filled with people with an exotic feel.**

"Look at all the people!" Nora cheered as Ruby nervously pulled up her hood as if the people on the screen could see her.

"That's a lot of people." The reaper muttered softly as Yang rolled her eyes.

 **There's a semicircular space with a radius of about 20m between the gate and the town. Whether it is there to prevent confusion or for war, I don't know.** **The certificate is made with material resembling Japanese paper. Even though the cityscape is in western style, the parchment is... Is it the limit of a dream?**

"IT'S NOT A DREAM SATOU!" all eight teens shouted angrily as they palmed their faces.

 **I fold it carefully into my pocket. Of course, I put it directly into the Favorite folder inside my pocket.** **Let's look for a change of clothes while strolling the main street for now! Even after many washings, it's painful to only wear one set of clothes.**

"I don't think I could live with only one set of clothes," Jaune muttered with a shiver. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

 **"I want to take a bath before changing clothes..."** **I tried to search for a bathhouse attendant, but it was not applicable. I'm wondering if I got the occupation name wrong or if there are no bathhouses in the first place. If it's the latter then I have no choice but to get hot water and take a bath inside my room in the inn later.**

"Bathhouses are actually very pleasant," Weiss stated startling everyone in the room. "What?"

"You've been to a bathhouse before?" Blake asked disbelievingly.

"Yes?" Weiss answered unsurely. "It was a trip Winter took me on." She explained seeing the weird looks persisting.

"I always thought you'd hate the idea of public bathing areas," Yang admitted as Ruby nodded rapidly.

"Well…" Weiss rubbed her had tiredly. "Winter scared off everyone else before we entered." The others all made an "Oh" look with their mouths as they nodded their heads in understanding.

 **"You there! If you haven't decided on an inn then come to ours! I'll give you some service~!"** **  
** **"Wh-What..."** **  
** **"It's fine, it's fine, it's cheaper than all the others- Not, but it is filled with a devotion to delicious food and clean bedding!"** **When I was thinking about how to get into a bath, someone suddenly pulled my arm and my consciousness came back. A random high tension girl embraced my arm while pulling it. I wonder if she's a barker, it's a scene you usually see in a campus festival in modern Japan.**

"Barker?" Blake asked with narrowed eyes.

"Someone who stands out front advertising their wares," Ren explained simply before continuing to read.

 **I'm dragged to a store that looks like a bar while thoroughly enjoying the soft feeling wrapped around my arm. Because I entered from the main street it feels dim.** **"Mom! Mom! I brought a guest!"**

"Well, she looks nice," Jaune muttered idly. "Kind of reminds me of Sara." He added in getting a jealous look from Pyrrha.

"Sara?" Yang asked with a grin on her face. "Please…do tell."

Jaune blinked in surprise as he looked at the brawler. "She's one of my sisters." He explained getting a disappointed sigh from Yang while Pyrrha looked relieved.

 **Out of consideration for the softness transmitted to my arm, I have no more hesitation in deciding to stay in this inn. Yep,** _ **poyopoyo**_ **is** _ **justice**_ **!** **"It's the first customer since the stars fell, isn't it... Hm? He doesn't have any luggage, is he really a guest?"**

"Poyopoyo?" the girls asked before noticing where Satou was referencing. "I guess he likes larger chests," Yang smirked at Weiss he covered her own chest.

"Where are you looking?" she shouted at her while blushing bright red.

 **An aunty with a big body came out of the bars counter-like place. Contrary to her figure, she's a beautiful woman with a face filled with dignity. I think she's about 30? I'm sorry for calling you, aunty.** **However, even though these mother-daughter pair are natural beauties, why are they fat! Lose 10, no 20 Kg, and they would be in my strike zone!**

"I suppose having a preference for thinner girls is normal huh," Nora asked Ren who shrugged his shoulders.

 **Though I'm out if she's a married woman. An affair will only make everyone involved unhappy!** **"Because of that, err, star fall? My luggage ran out with my horse due to the uproar... Fortunately, my wallet is safe, and I somehow got into this city~"** **  
** **"That's a disaster. Our inn charges 1 big copper coin for one night. If you're fine with sleeping together with other guests in a big room then it'd be 2 copper coin. A meal is served at this bar for one serving. It's the limited service for an accommodation."**

Ruby blinked and then shook her head "I have no idea if that's a good price or not." She stated with a big bright grin. The others laughed.

 **Fumu, I don't know the market price, so let's investigate the value of big copper coin and silver coin by paying for 10 days.** **  
** **The landlady has arithmetic and cleaning skill so there won't be any mistake with calculation.** **"Then, it's for 10 days please."** **  
** **"Okay, it's exactly 2 silver coins then."**

"So now we start to get a feel for money exchange in this world," Blake muttered as she grabbed a pen and began writing. "Five big copper coins is equal to one silver coin…" she muttered as she tracked the information.

 **I take out 2 silver coins and pass it to the landlady.** **  
** **It seems that 5 big copper coins equal 1 silver. It doesn't seem like she miscalculated either.** **"Landlady, could I have my meal now? If possible a light one."** **  
** **"If it's something like oatmeal, black bread, or vegetables then I could get it out right now. And I'm sorry but meat hasn't appeared in the market, so there's none of that."** **  
** **"Then black bread and a stew please."** **  
** **"Okay, I'll bring it immediately, so just sit there. Martha, write the guest book for our customer here."**

"I wonder if something is preventing Meat from making it to the market right now," Yang muttered as Weiss frowned. "Maybe they don't have livestock though…" Yang hummed in thought.

 **The landlady goes to a place that looks like a kitchen, and in her place, a poster girl who looks like a head clerk from a historical drama holding a notebook tied up with string, Martha-Chan, skips here.** **  
** **She's cute but she looks around a high schooler's age? A bit too young for me.** **"Ye~s, I'm writing for you so can you give me your name?"** **  
** **"It's Satou."** **  
** **"Okay, Satou. Your occupation and age please."**

"She is pretty." Weiss acknowledged without any meaning to it. "She looks around our age."

 **I almost said, a 29-year-old programmer. According to the Status screen, it should be 15 years old.** **"A peddler, 15 years old."** **  
** **Martha-Chan smoothly fills the notebook. It looks to use yellow papers like the one used on Japanese calligraphy.** **  
** **When Martha attempted to chat after writing the inn registry, the landlady came out and told her to clean the 2nd floor.**

"It's hard to imagine, but he's your age Rubes!" Yang laughed as she slapped her sister's back sending her sprawling on the floor.

"But I'm not twenty-nine." Ruby blinked owlishly while the others just palmed their faces.

 **The crystal clear stew with consommé-like soup, cabbage, and carrot-like vegetables, and as announced before, without meat, is more delicious than I expected. There are 3 slices of about 2 cm thick black bread. It's harder than what I've heard but feels about as hard as senbei. It looks like it would fill your stomach. I bite it full of curiosity. It feels like a meal full of strange SFX.** **Feeling satisfied for a meal after a long while, I pay the price. 1 copper coin. Usually, it's prepaid.**

"It looks tasty," Ren muttered as he rubbed his eyes again. "I wonder if it tastes like what we can make."

 **Come to think of it, Martha and the landlady use loanwords like service and oatmeal normally, but when I observed their lips, I know that they're speaking different words. I wonder if it's an appropriation of the Shiga language words.** **[Lip Reading Skill Acquired]** **...Ya~y, I can become a spy or a detective~ orz.**

"YAY SPIES!" the fun-loving members shouted in joy while the more sedate members all smiled softly.

 **Or rather,** **"Landlady-san, I intend to buy some groceries and a change of clothes, do you know any good places?"** **Although I know stores location from the map, there are too many of them, I don't feel like going around all of them.**

"How typical of a guy." Weiss sniffed disdainfully. The other girls were all in agreement while Ren and Jaune shared suffering sighs.

 **"If you want something with high-quality material, then the tailor on the city center would be the best. For something reasonable then the east is good, and if you want it cheap then the west. If you have money in excess then you could tailor it on the high-class shop at the inner wall, but you'd need a gold coin. General good stores usually open near clothing stores, so please plan your budget carefully."** **"Thank you very much. I'll go to the east street since tailoring seems that it would take some time."** **  
** **"Okay, although the public order is good on the east, be careful of pickpockets. Since sometimes there are migrant workers from the west there."**

"I…kind of want some action soon," Jaune admitted with a sigh. "All this info dumping is kind of getting boring." Although no one said anything everyone agreed with him.

 **"Yes, I will be careful."** **I leave the inn while thanking the landlady for the advice.** **  
** **It's starting to get hard to say that this is a dream. But I will work hard!**

"GET OVER IT! THIS ISN'T A DREAM YOU MORON!" Nora shouted angrily only for Ren to nail her in the head with the book. "Owwie."

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Alright, I hope you all enjoyed, Next chapter will be out on April 15.

Just so everyone is aware I created a forum post and put a link in my Bio. The intended use is for everyone to be able to post and accept challenges or story ideas. Despite the fact that everyone basically just posts challenges as stories, that is actually against the rules and guidelines of the FF website so I won't do that.

I put all of the ideas currently on my Bio in one large post but from now on. If I think of another idea I'll post it to that forum.


	6. Reading 1 - 6

Here you go! Another chapter right on time.

* * *

Nora sent a mock glare at Ren as she rubbed the quickly forming lump on her forehead. "Ren you meanie!" she whined causing the quiet male to smile softly as he reached out and patted her on the head calming her down quickly. "Ehhehehe." She giggled as she picked up the book and began reading.

 **1-6. The Marketplace, the Princess and the Slave Trade**

"Hm…" Blake mused as she narrowed her eyes. "I guess this chapter is about how things are in the city." She mused as her lips curled in disgust at the slave trade part of the title.

"I still can't believe there's slavery in this world," Weiss muttered distastefully.

"That's rich knowing how the Schnee treats their Faunus workers." Yang pointed out as she frowned. Weiss scowled but didn't say anything.

 **Satou's here. It's Suzuki but I'm Satou. This is a dream, right? Please say that this is a dream, Johnny.**

"Who's Johnny?" Ruby asked curiously while looking around the room. No one had an answer for her as they all shrugged their shoulders while shaking their heads.

 **A slight unrest began to arise inside my mind when I went shopping on the earl's territory metropolitan, Seryuu city.** **  
** **It's a few minutes' walks to the east of Martha's mother's inn.** **  
** **Come to think of it, I haven't heard the name of the inn, the map says Monzen Inn; is that it?**

"Finally." Pyrrha noted, "I hope he realizes that this isn't a dream soon." She clapped her hands and smiled beautifully.

Jaune's face reddened as he turned away from Pyrrha. A fact that everyone but the red-haired warrior noticed as knowing grins spread across everyone's faces.

 **Immediately after entering a series of food stalls, I smell something good.** **  
** **Eh? Isn't this the smell of soy sauce?** **  
** **Okonomiyaki and crepes are being baked on an iron plate. The seasoning seems to be soy sauce. Just as I thought, it's fine to call this a dream. There's no way soy sauce exists in a fantasy!**

Ren sighed as he palmed his face. "Please someone…" he moaned before dragging his hand over his face. "Smack him with the reality stick."

"The what?" team RWBY asked in unison as they looked to the other three members of JNPR for help.

"It's what Ren calls whatever he uses to knock Nora out of her pancake induced fantasies," Jaune explained while Nora grinned happily.

 **Even though I've just had a meal, I buy one of them.** **"Yep, it's delicious."**

"That does look tasty." Yang agreed as she licked her lips.

"You're still hungry?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"I don't know if you've noticed Weiss but we all eat a lot. Even you." Yang pointed out with a deadpan stare. "You just tend to grab enough food to satisfy you in one sitting whereas I grab a little bit of everything that looks good and test them all out before going back for seconds."

"Speaking of food," Fox called out catching everyone's attention. "Would you like me to make the various foods we see in this story? Of course, it would only be similar dishes rather than the actual dishes themselves." He paused as he considered something. "I'll see if I can get a gym like area in here for you all to work it off."

"That sounds great!" Ruby cheered while everyone else agreed in softer tones. Fox nodded his head as he made his way out of the room in order to make the food.

"By the way don't worry I'll know what you've seen." He assured them as he stepped out.

 **I want pork cutlet sauce rather than soy sauce. The other stalls seems to be frying something that looks like croquettes. What a high food culture for a fantasy!** **I'm going around various stalls, trying various foods.**

"This is no longer a story about demon lords and heroes." Jaune declared simply. "It's now a story about tourism and food." Despite herself, Blake couldn't actually find anything in what they had already read to disprove the blonde knight in training.

 **"How much is this Gabo for 3 serving?"** **  
** **"It's 2 Pennies."** **  
** **"Expensive, isn't it 1 penny?"** **  
** **"young ma'am, like that, we couldn't eat then; How about 2 pennies for 4 then?"** **  
** **"Give me 5 for 2."** **  
** **"It can't be helped since young ma'am's a beauty, I'll give in."**

"Haggling huh?" Weiss noted with a roll of her eyes. "I see it's the same everywhere you go."

"Must get a lot of that being a Schnee Heiress and all that," Nora muttered while rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

 **I listened to some interesting conversation between an aunty and a food stall owner. Haggling basic eh? Since I'm accustomed to just buying what's written on the price tag, it looks difficult.** **[Eavesdropping Skill Acquired]**

"Wait so eavesdropping is also a skill?" Ruby asked as everyone stared at Blake.

"What level do you think Blake's would be?" Yang asked Weiss while Blake looked between her friends with an odd look.

"Well, Faunus do have better senses than normal humans," Weiss noted not exactly sure how well that translated to Blake in particular.

"You know I can hear all of you right?" Blake noted with a small scowl as she crossed her arms in irritation. "Still we got more information, now we know that you have to haggle with the shopkeepers and that they'll try to get every ounce of cash out of you that they can."

 **"Anything I can help, young man?"** **  
** **Fumu, from the conversation earlier a Gabo seems to be about 0.4-0.5 pennies a pop. Since this uncle has the arithmetic skill, he should've been able to calculate the minimum amount.** **  
** **"I want to buy 2 Gabo, is it alright with 1 penny?"** **  
** **"You've heard the conversation just now eh? It's alright then. Young man has arithmetic skill too right. You're pretty good for such a young man."** **  
** **It's just normal mental arithmetic though...** **  
** **I got 2 Gabo fruit for 1 penny. Gabo is actually a fist-sized red pumpkin fruit. Incidentally, the penny is an oblong shaped coin weighing about 1 gram, it's a yellow-ish copper coin with high impurity.**

Pyrrha sighed sadly. "It's as I feared basic Arithmetic is a skill that not many people have apparently." She muttered getting sad looks from the others.

"So basically there are people who can't do addition or subtraction?" Ruby questioned not exactly sure what Pyrrha was getting at.

"Yeah, Ruby that's exactly what she means," Yang answered for Pyrrha while pulling Ruby into a hug. Blake sighed before jotting down the market value of the Gabo fruit while marking down what a penny was.

 **[Estimation Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Haggling Skill Acquired]**

"Just about everything is a skill huh?" Ren noted absently as Fox walked back in and handed everyone a tray with an Okonomiyaki pancake and a Croquette.

"Careful it's hot." He noted simply before sitting down himself and digging into his own food.

"It's good," Weiss noted as she bit into the Croquette carefully. "Unbelievably unhealthy, but good." The others rolled their eyes in exasperation.

 **But I didn't haggle it?** **  
** **Is it because I saw the earlier haggle by the aunty?** **While wondering what to do with the Gabo fruit I looked around me. The stalls are all around the size of half a tatami yet there are many of them. Furthermore, they're lively.**

"Oh, oh, oh!" Nora shouted suddenly startling some of the others. "It's like a festival!" she shouted happily causing the others to sigh at her enthusiasm.

 **While looking around the stalls I raised [Estimation], [Haggling], [Arithmetic], [Negotiation], and [Scamming] skills to the max level.** **After strolling around for 10 minutes, I finally found my goal.**

"Oh no! He's going to run everyone out of business!" Ruby fretted while Yang laughed at her sister. Weiss and Blake merely rolled their eyes while team JNPR smiled happily.

 **I choose a large shoulder bag from one of the stalls. The price is displayed over the bag thanks to the estimation skill. Handy.** **It seems that I'd get hated if I suddenly bought it on market price. I understood the knack after 3 stores. I could get it to half the market price if I try to bargain for 3-4 times... but honestly, it's annoying.**

"So you actually have to go through the whole haggling process otherwise the shopkeepers get upset huh?" Jaune asked as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "That sounds like a pain in the ass."

"Well, at least he knows a good deal when he sees one," Blake noted with a shrug of her shoulders.

 **The spoils from the stalls... [Large Shoulder Bag], [A Bit Stylish Bag], [Commoner's Underwear for Top and Bottom + 10 set], [Hand Towel in Various Size, and Handkerchief]. The towel is just two pieces of clothes stacked together, I'm a bit dissatisfied.** **  
** **Also, even though I can't sew, [2 Meter Hemp Cord - 5 Bundles], [Cotton Thread - 1 Roll], [Sewing Needle - 5], [Sewing Scissors], [Cotton Cloth], somehow there's a lot of them. Since I have the storage, there's no problem even if a lot of them end up unused.** **  
** **In all, it's 4 silver coins. Unexpectedly, clothing is more expensive than foods.**

"Normally you wouldn't buy any of that stuff if it was an actual game since, for the most part, you can find the needed materials for crafting," Yang explained for everyone while scratching her head.

"But since it's a real life situation there's no telling when anything he comes across will be useful since he has infinite storage," Pyrrha noted.

 **I don't think I need to say this, but the first thing I bought, the shoulder bag, is a dummy. I will put things I bought into the bag and directly send it to the storage without being seen. I put some commoner's clothes inside the bag so that it doesn't look flat.** **I wanted to buy some robes or cloaks but, only worn-out or cheap looking things were available so I didn't.**

"Oh, how devious." Ruby grinned at Satou's thinking. "Now no one will question where he keeps things."

"Well at least until it clicks that he's carrying way more than should be possible." Ren countered with a tired look.

 **That's right, I want to confirm heat retention of the storage. I'll buy some properly hot things and put it inside.** **  
** **Shopping is fun~** **"Now then, I wonder what else?"**

"Well, at least he's having fun," Jaune muttered unable to believe that a man was enjoying shopping as much as Satou seemed to be. "If I can I'd rather avoid shopping." He muttered while holding his head in his hands.

"Seven sister problems?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Something like that," Jaune muttered with a shiver.

 **Chair lined up ahead of the stalls and there are a lot of old men drinking sake since morning.** **"Drinking in daytime... Oh yeah, tableware!"**

"It's like watching mom shop," Blake muttered as she felt her eyebrow twitching.

 **There should've been a shop that sells them among the one I've visited so far.** **  
** **That's right, shoes! I forgot about shoes.** **I want a reminder~. There's a memo field inside the [Exchange] tab of the Menu, let's put the shopping list there.**

"Ugh, it's like that one time Yang took me shopping with her," Ruby muttered with a groan. Seeing the looks everyone was sending her including Yang. Ruby huffed "She made me carry everything!"

Weiss turned an eye onto Yang. "Really Yang?" she asked her tone disbelieving. "You made Ruby carry everything?"

"She offered!" Yang protested.

"Cause you told me we were shopping for essentials!"

"We did!"

"Thirty pounds of hair care products are not essential!" Subtly Ren motioned for Nora to continue reading while the two sisters argued.

 **It's been a while since I saw the Exchange tab, over there I found the reason why I was level 1 when I entered the city.** **  
** **That status was the same as the one written on this page. The upper limit for each attribute is chosen from the drop-down box here. Even the skills and title can be chosen as [None].** **I could give false info however I want, huh...**

"The ultimate spy or thief," Weiss noted with a frown. "He would be able to mark himself as anything he wants and be able to go anywhere he wants. All he would have to do is wear a disguise and apply different attributes and no one would ever know."

 **I buy a pair of shoes suitable for a rough journey, and a robe matching the shoes, also a sandal for each foot.** **  
** **I thought of buying everything since I have the storage but I can't find shoes with the correct size. I'll just order it on the main street's shoe store later.** **Hungry after a second round trip, I set my eyes on a store selling something that looks like shoyu ramen and went into it. Although the noodles are different, it's proper ramen.** **  
** **The other was kneaded flour coiled in a stick varnished with miso-like substance then baked. It felt like a mismatch, but it was properly delicious.**

"He's just finding everything…" Nora whispered in awe. "Can you imagine how cool we'd look in that world?"

"About as cool as we do now?" Jaune guessed getting a contemplative look from Nora as the others sweatdropped.

 **I also bought cups, pots, tableware that caught my attention, I bought them all. Also, a kitchen knife, hot pot, and frying pan. Somehow there were no cutting boards, do people here don't use them?** **I casually bought a bathtub made of metal. As one would expect, the tub is too big to place into the bag so I brought it quietly to the back of an alley and put it into the storage. And since it would look unnatural if I went back into the east avenue, I decided to exit onto the main street.**

"Literally everything!" Nora exclaimed in amazement. "What can't he find in a market?"

"The meaning of life." Ren calmly stated getting odd looks from the others. "No one in the world could possibly have that, let alone some fantasy town." He offered a way of explanation.

 **At the east street stalls overflow, making the street there squeezed on the center. Here, the main street is about 6-meter width, horse carriage, and human-powered cart are going back and forth on it.** **Just like the street earlier, different from what I imagined of fantasy, the streets here are very clean. There are no bodies of dead animals lying around. There are also no bums in the alleyways.**

"Oh how nice." Blake muttered, "Satou's definition of nice is the lack of dead bodies and homeless people."

"Well, I guess it beats what he thought it would be like?" Weiss offered with a shrug of her shoulders.

 **The stalls are sparse here unlike on the east street, in exchange, there are a lot of stores instead. There are many people with good attire walking around the street.** **"Are collars popular?"**

"And now we get to the distasteful part," Pyrrha noted with a frown.

"I still can't believe people would do this to others," Ruby whispered as she snuggled closer to her sister. "It's terrible."

"Just remember Rubes," Yang muttered stroking her sister's back. "Not everyone is nice." Yang's eyes briefly turned red as she fought down her anger since she couldn't do anything about it at the moment. "Just watch, and learn and never let yourself become like these people." Ruby nodded her head silently as Nora continued to read.

 **The people who are pulling carts generally wear a collar. When I search for it, they're slaves. Mysteriously, all the slaves wear collars, reason unknown.** **A carriage coming from the downtown drop its speed to match the walking speed of the pedestrians.**

"It must be his high mentality stats." Blake noted with a frown "That's the only reason I can think of he can see this all and not react to it."

Weiss nodded in agreement. "I agree, I can't believe he would be so callous as to ignore the plight of others."

 **The carriage passes in front of me. There are around 10 woman slaves inside.** **  
** **My eyes are glued to one of them. A girl befitting to be called Yamato Nadeshiko featuring black hair and black eyes, although she looks like she's been in a long journey. Since the great majority of people looks like northern European, this is probably the first time I've seen an Asian face.** **  
** **The girl set her eyes downcast, our eyes met when she lifts it up and even though there's no dramatic development, somehow the little girl featuring orthodox northern European face with light violet wavy hair standing next to her looked very surprised when she saw me. No, well, It's troubling when you stare so hard at me... I'm not into loli.**

"Flags have been set!" Nora shouted loudly startling everyone as Jaune jumped from his seat and fell over.

Blake huffed as she calmed herself down "Nora's right though, there's no way those two won't be relevant later on."

"What's a loli?" Weiss asked with a confused voice. "I don't think I've ever heard that word before."

Everyone turned towards Pyrrha and Jaune who blinked in surprise. "You two read comics, what does that mean?" Ruby asked getting odd looks from the two.

"A loli is a character that either is or looks like a little girl," Jaune explained simply. "You know like short, petite girls regardless of their actual age." Those who didn't know made understanding noises while Weiss curled her lips distastefully.

 **When I took a long look at the little girl, a pop up with her name and level appeared next to her.** **Arisa. Level 10. Her level is high for a little girl.**

"Oh, strong little girl huh?" Nora asked cheerfully.

"Nora, keep reading," Ren muttered as he yawned.

 **Further information appears.** **11 years old.** **Title: [Witch of the Lost Kingdom] [Mad Princess]** **Skill: Unknown**

"Those…those are ominous titles," Blake muttered softly. "How did she get them though?" she wondered aloud as Ruby blinked in surprise.

"Wait…that's a princess?" she screamed as the fact set in. "Holy smokes Satou's going to end up saving a princess!" Yang smiled and patted her sister's head getting a small "HEY!" from the red hooded girl.

 **The carriage disappears toward the west street.** **Frankly, those were some trouble inviting titles... No no, I won't approach it okay? Absolutely!**

Jaune snorted "He totally will."

 **Let's go back to my original purpose.** **  
** **I searched the map for tailor or shoemaker and found them gathered near the side street, so I went there. Most of them had young women clerks which aren't fit for an old man, so I went into the shop with a kindhearted looking middle-aged couple.** **"Pardon me, do you have a solid merchant-like robe with calm color?"** **  
** **"Welcome, please come over here, we will bring you sample cloths. There were 5 ready-made goods on the rack there, but it's been selling well recently."**

Pyrrha hummed in thought. "I suppose he needs to look the part of a merchant huh?" she questioned with a tilt of her head.

"It would certainly help him avoid trouble." Weiss agreed while Blake ignored them in favor of observing the options available.

 **The husband guided me to the lounge and took out the samples from the interior. In harmony, the wife brought out a tea-like drink. It's an elegant cup.** **"Since it'll be cold from now on, how about this thick fabric? If you're going on a journey then we can also prepare a matching waterproof cloak, how about it sir?"**

"They certainly know their stuff," Yang muttered approvingly. "Just goes to show, if you don't know what you need or want, going to older shop keeps is the better option." The rest of her friends agreed wholeheartedly as Nora continued to read.

 **These are excellent goods. Maybe. These are the types that the largest clothing store buys a lot with a lot of color variety, The 5 variety of the well-selling goods probably also have cloak order accompanying them.** **  
** **The tailoring will need 5 days to finish. If I only buy one then it's only 3 days.** **  
** **5 gold is quite a large sum, but it's money needed for necessary things.** **  
** **However, I want at least 1 change of robe before the day is over. I feel like I don't know the TPO if I go the inner wall with this battered robe I'm wearing.**

Both teams blinked in surprise at the gibberish that came out of the book. "What the heck did I just say?" Nora questioned with a look of pure confusion written across her face.

"Absolute nonsense is what," Weiss muttered as she stood up and walked behind Nora to see what had happened. "I think it got lost in translation or something." Returning to her seat Weiss sighed in annoyance.

 **"Master, since this shop is only for tailoring, do you know shops selling ready-made goods? As you can see the robe I'm wearing is battered from the journey, I want to buy temporary clothes before the tailoring is done."** **"For ready clothes, I recommend Poel Clothing on the Teputa street. Although it's my stupid son's clothes, I can assure his cloth-making skill. It's quite famous among the commoner so it's quite enough for temporary clothes."**

"Why does Satou keep calling shop keepers master?" Ruby questioned cutely as she tilted her head like a puppy.

"Maybe it's a thing from his homeworld." Ren offered with a shrug. "It could just be a title that translates to master for us."

 **Promoting his son's shop eh... I politely refuse when he's offering to draw a map, it's enough with oral instruction so I get out of the shop. I almost forgot to take the deposit receipt until I was called by the Mrs. Shopkeeper in hurry.** **I bought two robes, one is a calming dark brown color and the other is a gaudy red with yellow stripes. The former is as said before, and the latter, let's omit the story behind it. My line of vision went into the valley of the female clerk...**

"Satou you dog," Yang smirked as Weiss' mood soured. "Looking down a girl's shirt how shameless!" despite her reprimands, it was clear to all that Yang didn't care and was instead poking fun at Weiss.

"I don't want to hear your snarky words, Xiao Long!" Weiss stated angrily as she looked away from the blonde brawler. Yang laughed as Weiss continued to fume.

 **Of course, I also order shoes on the tailor. 1 for walking in the city, 2 boots for the journey.** **When I came back to Martha's inn after shopping, the sun was already sinking for the day.**

Ren groaned "How can anyone shop for an entire day?" he asked remembering the horrors of going on one of Nora's shopping trips.

"It's fun." Nora declared happily. "You get to see all these neat things and you might even find something you want or need at a great price!" she laughed happily as Ren began crying. "Here you go Jauney boy!" she chirped tossing the book at Jaune.

Blinking in surprise Jaune caught the book and opened it to the next chapter.

"Ah, before you begin Jaune." Fox interrupted as he set aside the paper he had been reading. "Just got a notice from my creator, we got permission to show you some other stories if you're interested."

"Like what?" Blake questioned curiously. "More stuff like this? Or more like that first one we read that never made it past the first chapter."

Yang chuckled "Way to mince words, Blakey." She muttered with some snark.

Fox smiled indulgently. "Well, as for content it's more like the first story we read together, but unlike that one, most of the ones you can choose from are already completed."

"Most?" Weiss questioned with a raised brow.

"Well not all of the stories are finished, but at least the one who writes them seems better at keeping them updated than a lot of others," Fox explained simply as he snapped his fingers causing a bookcase with a few books on it to appear.

Ren hummed thoughtfully as both teams busied themselves with looking over their options. "How interesting, Coeur Al'Aran, a pseudonym is it?" he asked getting a simple nod in return.

"Hm, 'Not this time, Fate', 'Relic of the Future', 'White Sheep', 'Service with a Smile', or 'Professor Arc'" Phyrra mused aloud as she looked between the stories in question.

"Professor Arc?" Jaune asked with an incredulous expression.

Nora laughed "Don't tell me Fearless leader is a teacher or something!"

"He is," Phyrra muttered as she pulled out the book and began reading the summary on the back. "He didn't know the first thing about teaching, Hell, he didn't even know the first thing about fighting! A shame then, that his forged documents painted the picture of an accomplished and skilled warrior. Now he's trapped teaching students his own age how to be hunters when he doesn't even know himself!" she recited as she hummed thoughtfully.

"Jaune a teacher?" Ruby asked looking up in thought. "I…can't see it."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "I know I don't make it a point to ask about what's been going on at Beacon with you kids, but I'm more surprised that none of you have any reactions to his forged transcripts."

"Oh, that came out a long time ago," Jaune admitted easily. "Like almost… two months now?" he wondered aloud looking to his friends for aid.

"Sounds about right." Phyrra nodded in agreement. "Besides he's gotten better."

"I see," Fox muttered with hum.

"What do you think Weiss?" Ruby asked the heiress who was reading the backs of the other books on the shelf.

"Hm?" the white themed girl asked looking up from the back of 'Not this time, Fate' "I'm sorry, what was that again?" she asked

"About the Professor Arc story." Ruby reiterated her question.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with it," Weiss began while holding up a hand to stall any injections from the others. "It is a story, after all, it might be interesting to see how the author makes it work."

"Huh, I've got to admit, I was expecting a more stone cold rejection," Yang admitted, "You feeling alright Weiss-cream?"

"One: don't call me that. Two: Even if these _are_ alternate versions of ourselves, they are not us. I don't see how me sharing a name with a character in a book I'm reading should impact the level of enjoyment I get out of said book."

"Very mature." Ren nodded in agreement. "We'll have to try and find a story with Weiss being as different as possible to see if she can still say that afterward."

"Ren…" Jaune sighed "You really do like these types of things don't you?" he asked while the others openly discussed the possibility of Ren being an imposter while Nora laughed.

"I like the idea of being able to see how a different version of me would react because even if our circumstances are different the person within the body should still be intrinsically the same. Also, if I can see how different versions of me approach other problems in life I have yet to face or perhaps do not know how to face I will be able to overcome them myself with less trouble."

"Have you made a decision yet?" Fox asked once the conversations started to die down.

Ruby and Jaune glanced at their teams who all nodded in agreement. "We'll read Professor Arc first." They announced simultaneously.

"Wonderful!" Fox smiled at them as he clapped his hands together.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Alright, before you ask. I did, in fact, ask for and receive permission from Coeur Al'Aran to do a reading story. For now, I will only do one of Professor Arc (and Headmaster Arc if it does well), but if allowed I would like to do ones for some of C.A.'s other stories as well.

The first chapter of Reading Professor Arc comes out April 22

The next chapter of RWBY Reads Death March comes out April 29


	7. Reading 1 - 7

Here you go, he scheduled chapter of RWBY reads Death March, Enjoy!

* * *

(BREAK)

"I'll admit this feels a little weird switching between these two stories like this," Ren noted as Jaune was handed the Death March book after Fox put away Professor Arc for later reading.

"You'll get over it," Fox assured him easily. "Besides I invited you all here to read Death March it would be bad form to forget about that in light of other reading material."

"I guess that makes sense, anyways I'm going to start reading now then," Jaune coughed once to clear his throat before beginning to read.

 **1-7. Open Air Bath, Objective and Sightseeing**

Weiss hummed in thought as she considered the chapter title. "I guess we're about to start getting into the real meat of the story." She mused to herself getting nods of agreement from her teammates and friends.

 **"Satou's here. The petty one who doesn't want to get involved with the dangerous looking slave, Satou."**

 **It's a dream! My self-suggestion is reaching the limit.** **It's another world that's most likely a dream, became my compromise. Yes, however small the possibility is, I won't give up.**

Jaune paused when he felt the air becoming thick with tension as he warily glanced at his partner who seemed to be twitching while restraining herself. "Come on Pyrrha…" he began only for the said warrior to raise a hand silencing him.

"I haven't seen her this upset since you ate her strawberry cheesecake," Ren noted aloud smiling enigmatically at Jaune.

"THAT WAS ONE TIME!" Jaune complained getting odd looks from Team RWBY who didn't know what they were talking about.

Nora for once was the one to explain things as Ren just smiled in what could be interpreted as a smug look while Jaune tried to explain himself a second time as the reminder seemed to worsen Pyrrha's mood. "Turns out Pyrrha is really big on strawberry shortcakes." She explained getting confused looks from RWBY. "Like…Blake to tuna big."

Blake frowned at being used as an analogy, her ire increased when she saw her teammates nod their heads as if that explained everything. "See if I ever buy you cookies again Ruby." She muttered with a "Hmph!"

"Wait I'm sorry Blake!" Ruby cried as she latched onto the Faunus' arm. "Please don't say things like that!" Yang laughed as Weiss merely sighed tiredly as she watched her leader beg pathetically.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head before just deciding to continue reading aloud.

 **My heart broke when Martha said that a bathroom is not available except at the lord's castle. Since the food and sanitation culture of the town were pretty high, I thought that bathrooms also mattered.** **I thought of bathing in the room with the tub, but since it'd get the room moldy due to the moisture, I was told to do it in the backyard since it also has a well.**

Everyone shivered in disgust at the thought of a world where bathrooms were only for the lords of the land. Wanting Jaune to quickly continue as to get their minds off of it everyone unanimously waved Jaune on to continue reading.

 **The backyard is about 6 tatami wide. The well is not that far from the back door, it's not equipped with a pump and is the type that uses buckets to draw water, usually used in older days. I'm using one of the two wooden tubs available.** **I thought that I would struggle but thanks to my high (STR) status, it was easy.**

"I heard that that's how things were done before the invention of plumbing but seeing it is completely different," Weiss noted while making a displeased face.

"Some of the outlying villages are still like that." Blake noted sadly "Unfortunately not everywhere has the things city folk take for granted."

"Yeah, if something happens to the pipes back home we have to do what Satou is doing right now," Jaune admitted getting looks from the others. "What I come from a farming family." He reminded them.

"Who fixes the pipes in your house?" Ruby asked curiously since Jaune made it sound like his family was outside the walls of the major cities.

"Either my dad or my sister Jade," Jaune explained simply not seeing what the big deal was.

"How big is your farm again?" Yang eventually asked getting Jaune to hum in thought.

"Well we have a building for the hired help to live in and then there's our family's house and the barn…" Jaune trailed off as he tried to remember the details. "I think Mom said the family land was… five-hundred and ten thousand acres or something like that.

Yang turned towards Weiss with a raised eyebrow. "That's roughly seven-hundred and ninety-seven square miles." Yang and Ruby's eyes widened comically as Weiss stared at Jaune with an appraising eye. Blake didn't show much reaction other than a tilt of her head while Jaune's own team gave him a thumbs up.

Shrugging his shoulders Jaune continued reading ignoring the weird look Yang and Ruby was now giving him.

 **Though they said backyard, the fences are only around my waist high. Even though there is little pedestrian traffic, there is still some. It's already dim during the dusk but if I take a bath in a place like this, isn't this like an exhibition?**

"Oh, Satou you naughty boy" Yang purred teasing her more easily embarrassed teammates. Weiss's face burned brightly as the imagery came unbidden to her mind. Swatting the brawler's shoulder she huffed trying to force her blush down. Yang simply cackled while Ruby pulled her hood over her head. Blake again seemed unfazed but the twitching of her ears alerted the others that she was thinking about something.

Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully not overly bothered by the situation Satou had found himself in while Nora couldn't care less and Ren merely listened attentively for more details.

 **When I look around, there's a partitioning screen near the back door.** **I see, am I meant to use this?** **After I put up the screen, I started bathing with the cold water.**

"Well, at least it's not that bad," Weiss muttered seeing the screen blocking Satou from view, only showing his silhouette.

"I was kind of hoping we'd see if Satou is well built," Yang admitted shamelessly. "Having some eye candy never hurt." Blake blushed slightly but didn't disagree while Ruby made a gagging noise. Weiss crinkled her nose slightly but didn't make any comments about it.

Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully while Nora sent a side glance at Ren who either didn't notice or ignored it.

 **Though it's only about as high as my waist, it's enough for shielding the view.** **...Dang, I forgot to buy soap!** **There's probably no shampoo, but if it's just soap it should be available. Let's look for it tomorrow.**

"Is he a housewife?" Pyrrha asked with a blink of surprise.

"Maybe life alone does that to people," Jaune suggested calmly while Team RWBY agreed.

Ren hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders essentially giving up on figuring it out while Nora bounced in her seat excitedly.

 **A woman comes out of the back door. It's a blond beauty on the latter half of her 20s. How do I say this, this town has a lot of beautiful women.** **Our eyes match.** **Iya~n.** **...Disgusting. I'm disgusted with myself.**

There was dead silence as the two teams watched the brief interaction between the woman and Satou. "GUILTY!" they all declared in unison before urging Jaune to continue reading. Fox poked his head out from the doorway to see what was going on before shrugging and retreating once more, the sounds of construction briefly heard before the door closed shutting out all sound.

 **After the woman finished drawing the water into the tub, she started bathing after putting the screen.** **There's a screen between us, it is, but!** **Whenever she moves a little, the upper body is!** **Well, I estimate it to be D cup, purunpurun, it's asserting itself!**

All of the girls had deadpan expressions while Ren and Jaune merely closed their eyes sighing sadly.

 **She did cover it by hand, but it got unexposed occasionally...** **No, no, I'm not a DT, I summon all my strength to avert my gaze and go back to wash my body. Restrain yourself my healthy lower body!**

Ren palmed his face while Jaune scratched his head in confusion. "What's a DT?" he asked looking around. The others shrugged their shoulders in response prompting Jaune to continue reading.

 **I glanced at the female's face, she's wearing an expression full of deliberate composure!** **As I thought, adult women are nice!**

Blake hummed effectively ignoring the situation as she considered Satou's preferences. "Somehow I don't think many of his traveling companions end up being adults or as large chested as he wishes." She noted simply.

"I just wish he wasn't so blatant about it," Weiss noted while folding her arms in annoyance.

 **I wipe my clean body with the towel... Wonder where I should put the water.** **There is no drainage.** **"It's okay to sprinkle the water on the garden plants. There's drainage below the plants."** **I wonder if I looked pathetic since the woman taught me. I thanked her and went back to the inn after throwing the water.**

"Oh, I guess that's the end of that," Ruby muttered slightly thankful that things weren't going to escalate into something her dad had always warned her about.

"Still that was nice of her to help him out," Pyrrha noted with a bright smile that sent Jaune's heart fluttering.

 **I want you to overlook my glance during my way back.** **[Surveillance Skill Acquired]** **[Poker Face Skill Acquired]**

"Poker face?" Nora questioned as she a bright pink question mark appeared above her head.

"It's like Ren's face," Jaune muttered absently causing the hammer wielder to look at Ren who had an expressionless look on his face where she couldn't really tell what he was thinking.

"I see" she muttered causing the others to laugh while Ren stared at her unflinchingly before he jabbed Jaune in the ribs causing the blonde knight to cry out in surprise.

 **I changed into the new robe after bathing, feeling refreshed.** **  
** **The dinner was still mainly vegetables, but the taste really came out, it was delicious. Though I prefer it to be a tad thicker.**

"I don't mind a dinner salad every now and then…" Yang muttered while rubbing the side of her head idly. "But, I still would prefer to have meat when I can." She pointed out getting nods from everyone else. Even Weiss agreed and that was saying something.

 **The service was a raw salad. I'd be happier if it were meat...** **I feel that the protein was a bit insufficient, so I took out jerky from my pocket and gnaw on it.**

As if on cue Fox walked out with some jerky in hand and placed it on the table between the two teams. "The gym should be finished by the time you finish this chapter he revealed getting thankful nods from everyone as they each took a piece of jerky and popped it into their mouth. "Admittedly…" Fox began before taking a bite of jerky. "Since I modified the room to allow you all to leave, the gym has less purpose now."

"Nonsense, we can now work off these snacks without risking questions back home," Pyrrha stated smiling all the while. Fox hummed silently before shrugging his shoulders as he exited the room once more.

"Not bad." Ruby complimented happily as she chewed on the savory treat.

"Moist and chewy." Ren agreed happily as he savored each bite.

 **I wanted to drink sake, but the customers around me drink an unrefined looking local sake, causing my craving to stop. I want to drink some cold beer~** **After the meal, there is no light when I come back to my room. Not even light from magic. Work harder, Fantasy!**

Jaune laughed slightly "He didn't call it a dream!" he announced happily getting amused chuckles from everyone else.

 **When I ask the landlady who's struggling with drunken people, "It's 1 copper coin if you want a lamp", so she says. By the way, the lamp has to be returned later. It seems that the guys who are awake stay in the bar to drink the night away, only the guys who want to sleep go back to their room.**

"That…sounds…redundant." Blake pointed out as Yang laughed.

"Yeah what else would they be doing if they're not drinking?" the blonde brawler asked as she held her sides.

"Well, I can think of a few things," Nora muttered sending Ren a look causing the stoic teen to look away from his partner.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He declared in monotone.

 **The toilet is shared together, scooping styled. When I think about it, doing it on the outdoor like I always did until yesterday is better than this. There's a bundle of straw that looks like a wiping cloth. Since it seems that I'd get hemorrhoid if use that, I cut a handkerchief in a suitable size and use it. This isn't eco-friendly, but I don't want to save for this kind of thing!**

Quite a few faces turned green as Jaune hastily continued reading.

 **I come back to the room after finishing the business.** **The light from the lamp is dim. There's probably some magic items able to be used as illumination among the loots, but I'm afraid that the inn could be half destroyed if I take out the wrong item.**

"Oh, I remember one time when the power went out we used Yang as a light source!" Ruby cheered happily.

Blake sent he partner a look. "Did you now?" she asked while Yang blushed slightly. "Please do tell me more."

"Yeah, all I had to do was poke her a few times and poof her hair started glowing!" Ruby laughed childishly while Weiss sent Yang an amused look while Blake smiled softly.

"Must be nice having a nightlight at all times." Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement getting a betrayed look from Yang while Ren and Nora smiled happily.

 **The rented room is 8 tatamis wide with a single sized wooden bed, there are also chair and desk. The chair having no roller legs is a matter of course, but even the desk doesn't have a drawer.** **The window is small enough that when you put your face to look outside it feels cramped. I wonder if it's for ventilation, the landlady warned me to close it before I sleep to prevent crime.** **Fortunately, I can still see the menu screen even in the dark.**

"All in all pretty standard fare for an inn." Ren mused as Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

 **From now on, let's fill the memo column in the menu with objectives.** **Act 1. Let's really think about whether this is a dream or reality.** **For the time being, as to not have anything that I'd regret later if this was really a real another world, let's temporary recognize that this is really another world. Yes, temporarily. I can't give up in that regard!**

The two teams merely sighed in resignation. It appears Satou would not let go of that delusion of his anytime soon.

 **Act 2. Let's be wary of the surroundings.** **Even though I could escape from danger thanks to my high level, I should not act too antisocial that it would hinder me from touring another world. Also, although I don't know how strong they are, there are gods here; let's not be overconfident of my own ability and act carelessly.**

"That's good, you should never underestimate the people around you, even if you do have a cheating tool like his menu," Blake muttered getting nods from her friends.

 **Act 3. Let's obtain a means for self-defense.** **I want to obtain a method to neutralize opponents, or skills and magic to weather through a troublesome situation. I want to refrain from raining meteors every time there's trouble.**

Jaune smiled "That sounds like a good plan, as long as he swings the sword or whatever weapon around he can learn how to use it really well."

 **Act 4. I want to find a way back to reality.** **If it's a dream then a way to wake up, if it's thrown into another world situation then let's find a way to go back. I don't intend to act too positive though.**

"I suppose most people would try to return to their own world huh?" Ruby muttered curiously as she looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"I guess," Weiss muttered with a shrug. "It really depends on whether or not they were satisfied with their life before."

 **Act 5. Might as well enjoy the exotic atmosphere.** **With how real this all feel, sightseeing is enjoyable. My budget is plentiful anyway.** **Let's ask Mr. Knight if there's a do-it-all person who's willing to guide me for a tour.**

"It really did turn into a story about touring and eating…" Yang muttered before she began laughing again followed soon by her friends.

 **Are these all?** **I added soap in the postscript before I slept.**

"Can't forget the soap!" Nora laughed as she began bouncing again causing Ren to sigh in resignation.

 **"This is the first time I've been asked to be a tour guide."** **So she says, the 20 years old jack-of-all-trades, Nadi-san, while laughing bashfully. She's not a beauty, but she's full of cute gestures. She must be plainly popular.**

"That sounded a little rude," Pyrrha noted with a small frown.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad when he said it," Jaune assured his partner.

 **Normally she's a contractor for the miscellaneous job from the worker guild, apparently, hired to become a tour guide is quite unusual.** **Since walking is a pain, I borrow a roofless horse-drawn carriage to tour the town.**

"How should I feel about this?" Weiss hummed thoughtfully as she considered the most recent passage.

"Well, it's just information that this girl Nadi is a freelancer who helps out with miscellaneous jobs around town." Blake pointed out.

"I suppose not all information is excessively important…" Weiss admitted with a small frown. "In that case, I wish it would hurry up, I believe seven chapters with no real development of the plot is a bit much."

"I guess I agree," Yang muttered while leaning back in her seat. "All of the important stuff is either being subtly foreshadowed or just plain not mentioned yet…"

 **"The west street is not too prosperous so the citizen not only deals with the front store but also various slightly gray goods in the back."** **"For example?"** **"Well, something like love potion on the alchemist and pawn shop, moneylender, even brothels exist. The slave company is also located on the same street."**

Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby all showed faces of disgust while Blake and Yang didn't react too heavily to the news. Ren, Nora, and Jaune merely sighed in a "What can you do?" manner.

"I suppose it was naïve of me to think they wouldn't have _those_ types of places," Weiss muttered hatefully, although it wasn't clear what exactly she was referring to.

"Oldest job in the world." Blake reminded her simply.

"Hunting?" Ruby asked curiously causing everyone else to sigh as Yang patted her sister on the head. "Hey!" she whined swatting at her sister's hand.

"Ruby do you know what a brothel is?" Ren questioned simply getting horrified looks from the rest of Team RWBY.

"No?" Ruby answered although it sounded more like a question.

"Do you know what a prostitute is?" Ren continued as Nora forcibly kept the others from stopping him.

"No?" Ren sighed as he rubbed his forehead. He gestured for Ruby to come over. Getting up the little red reaper made her way over to Ren who leaned in to whisper into her ear. As he spoke Ruby's face gradually became redder and redder until she was as red as a masterfully cooked lobster.

"DIRTY!" Ruby screamed as she pointed wildly at the various buildings on the screen "FILTH ALL OF IT!" she screamed as swirls appeared in her eyes as she gesticulated wildly.

"Ren" Yang growled

"Someone had to, and clearly it wasn't going to be you." Ren countered blithely.

 **I reacted to the "slave" word. I don't want to meet that little girl~ I can only feel trouble from her.** **"Oh? Do you have an interest in slaves? Guard job is impossible, but they can be made to carry your load or chore during your journey. Most peddlers usually employ them."**

Pyrrha clicked her tongue in annoyance as she gripped and released her weapons restlessly. Jaune gulped nervously since the next chance she had to release stress was going to probably be in training him.

 **"Recently they closed after the stars fell before, but they're going to resume. They will open 3 days after the day after tomorrow."** **It seems that the slaves that the slave company buy are leftovers from the slave market or in training, there's usually a slave auction held once a month.** **"If you want to hire guards for the journey, then there are a lot of them gathered in the bar. Since it's hard to find trusty ones, in case the need arise, do ask [Jack-of-All-Trades] by all means!"**

"It's amazing how someone so cheerful can say the things she says," Pyrrha noted blandly while Blake hummed thoughtfully.

"Well…if she's used to it…" she hedged carefully. "It's a matter of their common sense versus ours right?" she pointed out getting a grudging look from Pyrrha who still seemed upset.

 **The carriage proceeded along the inner wall of the west street.** **"Around here is the craftsmen's block. Woodwork, blacksmithing, leather craft and many other craftsmen are here. Most of them don't have an actual store. Generally, they open a small store or stall and directly sell their products to the customer in person."**

"That sounds nice," Nora stated happily. "Imagine Ruby you could build everyone weapons on request and get paid for it!"

"Oh, that sounds so cool!" Ruby gushed causing her team to smile fondly.

 **Can they repair weapon and armor over here?** **"If you have a craftsman acquaintance there then there's no problem but generally to prevent trouble, one usually goes to the arms shop as an intermediate. There are high-class arms shops within the inner wall for knights and shops for soldiers and the general public on Biso Street in the eastern town. Hunters like to go to the western town since there are a lot of meat processing stores, there along with an arms shop."**

"Ah, arms stores for the general soldier," Ren stated off handily getting odd looks from his friends.

"Was that a joke?" Jaune questioned slightly confused.

Ren rolled his eyes "Never mind." He sighed.

 **Let's just roughly look at each store on the street. It probably won't end in one day.** **Come to think of it, isn't the lord's mansion located in the north?** **"You're well informed. Do you want to look inside the inner wall for a bit? Though there's only harvest work to be seen there."**

"I'm surprised they'd be allowed near the lord's mansion," Weiss noted simply.

"Well, it sounds like they do some farming around there so I suppose that makes sense to have it open like that." Yang pointed out getting a shrug of the shoulders from Weiss.

 **Well, I'd hate to be mistaken as a food thief if I walk there on foot.** **The carriage proceeds along the western inner wall, toward the narrow street between the inner and outer wall.** **After advancing for a while we got to the open gate, the soldiers guarding the gate are present too. The driver nods to the guard and continues to enter the northern district.**

"So they do have guards nearby," Blake muttered silently as she watched everything play out. "Hm…I wonder if they're actually useful or if they're just cannon fodder types."

"Probably a bit of both," Nora answered her surprising Blake. "This world is supposed to be dangerous for humans, right?" she asked, "These guys can probably handle thieves or bandits." Blake hummed in thought as she considered the hammer wielder's words.

 **There's vast farmland over there. The carriage continues on the farm road. The farmers are harvesting Gabo, the same fruit I bought yesterday.** **I don't know if it's normal, but there are a lot of kids around elementary school age helping.**

"So even kids help out with work around the town huh?" Jaune muttered in a matter of fact tone. "I guess that makes sense considering it is a lot of farming."

 **"Those children are probably from the orphanage since it's currently harvest season, the children from the town might be coming here to work."** **Even children work? No more NEET?!**

"NEET?" Ruby questioned curiously as she looked around only to get shrugs from everyone else.

"It means not in employment, education, or training," Fox informed them as he stepped out of the doorway. The being poured himself a glass of water and downed it with a satisfied sigh. "Well, hopefully, none of you become NEETs in the future." With that said he headed back to the doorway and disappeared.

The two Teams blinked in surprise before sharing looks with one another. "Jaune…" Blake motioned for him to continue getting a nod from the knight."

 **My face became strange for a little while.** **"If they're not from a wealthy family, then children around that age normally work."** **Don't they go to school? WHO please, support Seryuu City!**

"WHO stands for the World Health Organization" Fox called out poking his head through the doorway. "It's an organization dedicated to monitoring health issues around the world…or something like that anyways."

Ruby closed her mouth as she leaned back into her chair with a huff.

 **"School? If they're nobles or come from a wealthy family then they usually study in private, but schools only exist in the royal capital."** **"Furthermore, the Gabo fruits those children harvest are actually stapled foods for people with light wallets."**

"So in this world, only Weiss would be sent to school huh?" Yang muttered while glancing at the heiress.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Weiss asked slightly weirded out by Yang's stare.

"No reason in particular."

"Still that Gabo fruit is a staple food huh?" Blake cut in as she jotted the information down.

 **Hmm? But the inn serves bread and thin rice porridge, sometimes even stew, right?** **"No well, Monzen inn is relatively high level so they don't serve Gabo fruit. On the west street, most stalls are selling flatbread, gruel, and pickled vegetables. It has a strong smell, bitter, and hard to chew so the wealthy rarely ever eat it. Since you can eat cheap things until your stomach full, they're not only eaten by the orphanage children but also by about half of the general populace too."**

"Sometimes it's hard to remember that Satou is actually incredibly wealthy because of the whole takeover of Dragon Valley," Nora muttered while nodding her head sagely.

 **If it's like that, won't normal potatoes suffice?** **"The quantity of the yearly harvest differ. Although the harvest area becomes smaller, they could be harvested in one month period and rarely fail. Furthermore, it has a property that enables it to fertilize fallow. Thanks to Gabo fruit, the number of orphanages has increased dramatically."** **What a convenient fantasy fruit. Even opportunism has a limit.**

Jaune nodded his head "What a serious fantasy fruit." He muttered. "We have to keep in mind which fields have to be given a break and keep up with the various crop seasons in order to have good harvests." He revealed getting a sympathetic look from the others.

 **Even so, Nadi-san is quite knowledgeable... she looks like a literary woman graduated from the royal capital school.** **"I wasn't raised in the manor inside the wall, the food situation in the rural area was pretty terrible."** **She grew up outside eh, I wonder if the lord has a monopoly. It's a subtle mystery.**

"Rather than scholarly she learned everything through experience huh?" Ren mused as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"It's like that time we learned that Jaune looks great in a dress!" Nora exclaimed getting a strangled sob from the blonde male while the others looked interested.

 **"It's goblin's favorite food. If it's not a place surrounded by a wall like this, goblins would come in a blink of an eye and devour them greedily."** **"Back in the day, there was an explosive increase of goblins in the northern part of the kingdom, the scholar who investigated the cause concluded that it's related to Gabo fruit. In those days, if someone found a Gabo tree they would burn it down, then it began to be used as a food source and now it has become the staple food of the lower strata people. However, even now, if someone finds a Gabo tree, they would burn it down."**

"Goblins huh?" Ruby muttered with a rare scowl. Seeing her reaction Blake and Weiss turned to Yang for an explanation.

"She hates them because they're ugly, smelly and generally evil to the core you know," Yang explained simply. "They're like the default baddie in video games."

 **The wall around the farm is quite a bit lower than the town's wall. Is it around 2 meters and a half?** **I wonder what that tower standing tall 1 kilometer away is. It's been in my mind since before I entered the farm. It's around 20 meters tall and looks surprisingly rugged.** **"That's a self-defense mechanism built to repulse Wyvern attacks. The one in the castle is for the castle's defense, the one here is used when the attacks come to the farm."**

"Wyvern… that's like a flying raptor right?" Nora questioned trying to remember any games she might have played that had a Wyvern.

"I guess it would be something like that." Yang laughed.

 **"About 40 years ago when the black dragon attacked, it played a very big role. Back then, although a tower half as tall as this was brought down, the records depicting the successful repelling remain."** **Repel... Did it escape through the sky?** **"Leaving aside the Wyvern, as expected, defeating the true dragon is impossible. Only someone like the ancestor king, Yamato who was a great magician or Saga Empire's hero are able to do something like that."**

"So Dragons are beings of supreme power?" Ruby questioned simply as she remembered some of Satou's titles. "Does that mean Satou is essentially the strongest being in existence?" The others remained silent as they considered Ruby's words.

 **...Hero, eh?** **"Saga Empire has this hero's summoning great magic. Since the compensation is enormous, except when the 66-year Demon King's resurrection cycle begins, it's not performed. Yamato-sama and Saga Empire's founder were also heroes who were summoned when the world was in crisis back in the day. It's so dreamy."** **As I thought, these Yamato and Saga-san... I can slightly see through why the holy swords were named Excalibur and such.** **When the story was finished, the one-lap tour around the farm was also finished. The carriage went back towards the inner wall.**

"So Satou wasn't the first to be summoned…" Blake muttered softly as she considered what they had learned.

"Hopefully next chapter something more interesting happens." Ruby moaned in discontent while Nora agreed with her.

"In the meantime let's take a break and get some exercise in," Pyrrha suggested seeing Fox entering the room again.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Next chapter May 13th.


	8. Reading 1 - 8

Here you go!

* * *

(BREAK)

Fox nodded his head lightly seeing the two teams stand up. "What good timing." He mused aloud catching their attention. "I just finished up the gym for you all." He informed them as he opened up the door he had been disappearing into recently. "Go ahead and work out to your heart's content."

As the teens, all raced off to burn off the excess energy in their bodies Fox sat down on a bench and smiled softly. "Well, I'm glad I didn't build this place for nothing." He mused with a grin.

"This place is awesome!" Ruby yelled happily as she zipped up to him with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm glad you think so." Fox tussled her hair a bit causing the reaper to pout as she zipped away.

It took a while, nearly three hours of continuous exercise, but eventually, the teens all felt that they had worked off the calories from all the snacking they had been doing for a while.

"Shall I read then?" Fox questioned as they all lounged about in their seats wiping off the sweat with towels he had set aside beforehand. Seeing some nods he clapped his hands as the book appeared before them. "Now then, where were we?" he muttered to himself as he began flipping through the pages.

 **1-8. The Demon, the Knight and the Magician**

"Wait, demon?" Nora questioned as she tried to recall the events of the last chapter. "They didn't mention anything about a demon appearing in the last chapter did they?"

"They did not," Ren confirmed as the teens shared a brief glance with each other.

"Wow… not even a little forewarning on this huh?" Jaune muttered a little disappointed.

"It is a little frustrating, but if they handle it well I can look past it," Blake admitted with a shrug of her shoulders.

 **Satou's here. Dumbfounded because the long-awaited route abruptly closed.**

 **An existence that can only be expressed as a demon descended.** **Having horns like a ram, dark red glowing eyes, and a jet black gleaming body. Four arms, bat wings, and a split stinger tail. Truly a demon.**

"Huh, not as ugly as I thought it'd be." Yang mused as she narrowed her eyes as if trying to get a better look at the thing.

"Pretty stereotypical appearance actually," Weiss muttered sounding a little bored.

"Something wrong Weiss?" Pyrrha asked noticing the tone.

"All of that waiting for actual content, and we get a cookie cutter enemy, are they even trying to keep their readers engaged?"

Silently many of the teens agreed with the heiress.

 **The demon mowed down the knights effortlessly.**

 **The plaza became full of toppled carriages and dead bodies scattered around...** **It suddenly appeared in the middle of a peaceful afternoon.**

"Sounds like life on the frontiers," Ren noted solemnly

"Yeah, towns disappear all the time." Blake agreed having seen similar things before.

"Sucks every time too." Nora nodded for once not looking happy or energetic as she grabbed Ren's hand.

Weiss looked up, saw the image and rolled her eyes. "Ugh… they even use cookie cutter everything is bad and dangerous imagery." Fox sweatdropped hearing the white-themed girl's comment.

 **The inner wall is mostly occupied by mansions of the nobles and the wealthy, while the shops are only located on the side of the main street leading to the castle.** **When we arrived at the inner wall, we got off the carriage and started taking a stroll around the luxury shops guided by Nadi-san.** **"This is the shop who sells the high-class armor for the knights. The shop doesn't only have metal armor. Sometimes they have magic armor available. You'd need dozens of gold coin for that~"**

"Oh… flashback until we get back to the chapter opening." Jaune muttered rolling his eyes.

"How many chapters are there Fox?" Pyrrha asked trying to gauge if they should even finish the story if there was going to be such long periods of useless information dumps between each bit of action.

"Over three-hundred."

All of the teens just groaned at the thought.

"Okay, the concept is fun and all but come on!" Yang complained loudly as she slumped in her chair. "It took eight chapters just to get a somewhat dangerous enemy! Like come on even if it is a demon, Satou is like level three-hundred!"

Even Ruby agreed and she liked fantasy stories about heroes and the like. "Yeah, so far this is like… super boring." She mumbled afraid she'd hurt Fox's feelings.

"At least finish the first volume," Fox muttered weakly realizing that Death March may not be the best choice for a bunch of teens training to hunt monsters for a living.

"Eh~!" the teens whined half-heartedly

 **"This one here is the largest jewelry shop around. Especially their service for ruby and sapphire is the best in the kingdom. As for commoners, I recommend Liz jewelry across the street."** **"If you want robes tailored, then this shop is good. Although it had been on the wane for a bit; last year, after the son who came back from the royal capital succeeded the shop, it became awfully popular. Since 1 article cost around 2-3 gold coin, commoners don't come here but it may be a good idea for merchants who just got a big job to order here to increase their prestige."** **Nadi-san is so wiki-certified knowledgeable. As expected of a jack-of-all-trades?** **  
** **Although luxurious looking horse-carriages come and go from the castle to the plaza, the traffic is relatively sparse for our carriage to stop on the road.**

"Whoo~ Jewelry that makes no difference in the grand scheme of things." Weiss made a circular motion in the air with her finger as she found another book lying around and began to read on her own.

"Weiss that's rude." Pyrrha chastised her without any heat.

"Apologies Pyrrha, but I think I'm done with this story." Weiss declared as she hummed in thought as she continued to read.

"Wow… Weiss gets really sarcastic when she's bored." Ruby muttered seeing her partner just drop their story not even nine chapters in.

"Ruby, we only read two chapters of Professor Arc, but I'm more interested in finding out what happens next in that than I am in this."

"Gotta agree with the ice queen on this one" Yang agreed as she yawned.

 **I wonder if Nadi-san is thirsty after that much talking.** **"This is the most popular open terrace shop for sweets and tea among women in Seryuu city."** **Nadi-san's eyes are sparkling. It doesn't seem like a plea, just pure longing.** **"Nadi-san, my throat has dried up, since we're here already let's take a break there."** **  
** **"Yes, I understand. Please go ahead, I will wait here."**

"That's nice of him," Ren noted simply.

"Too bad it seems she didn't take the offer." Blake agreed lightly.

"Eh, probably because she's not important later on." Nora waved it off easily.

Fox felt an eye twitch. 'I think I lost them.' Sighing softly he rubbed his head as he glanced at the others who were paying a modicum of attention to him.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha bowed her head slightly.

 **...hmm?** **Suddenly, a lonely decision?!** **"You don't want to enter, Nadi-san?"** **"I'm sorry since this is a high-class tea shop..."**

"Is this a book about us reacting to other versions of Jaune?" Weiss asked as she flipped through the pages of another book.

"That's not something that's supposed to be here," Fox muttered as he clapped his hands making the book in Weiss' hands disappear.

"HEY!" Weiss sounded indignant as she frowned and shot an annoyed glare at Fox. "Some of those were good."

"We try not to intrude in each other's worlds without an invite," Fox admitted referring to beings like him who were tasked with sharing things with others. "I've got to organize the master's books better than that." He muttered to himself as he glanced at the mess of bookshelves he had in the room.

 **"Please tell me stories about the castle and the plaza while we drink. Of course, I will pay for the tea and sweets."** **Nadi-san's eyes are shining... but it quickly becomes cloudy. Is it that expensive?** **  
** **Let's be forceful here!** **"Let's go."** **I tenderly led her hand inside the shop.**

Yang yawned loudly which caused a chain reaction in the others who likewise yawned.

 **I was a bit prepared for it, but a set of tea and sweets are only 1 silver coin. Isn't that cheap? That was what I thought, but considering that amount will let you stay for 5 days in a high-class inn, it's probably quite expensive for the general public.** **Even though it's an open terrace cafe, they put stylish marble tables there. The teacup and the pot look expensive too.** **  
** **The tea tastes like Assam tea. It doesn't seem like they put sugar and milk though.** **  
** **In exchange, they serve it along with sweet baked cookies. It seems that you eat it with cottage cheese or jam spread.**

"Oh, that looks good," Ruby muttered

"Ruby we just worked off the snacks from before." Pyrrha chided gently.

"Right… maybe later?" Ruby asked hopefully causing the others to laugh.

 **Is this that desirable? When I look at the girls in the surroundings, everyone is eating something that looks like hotcakes full of honey cream.** **So I called the waiter and asked for two serving of the hotcakes. It's 3 silver coins.** **"Delicious~~~"** **It's certainly delicious... Particularly the charming happy expression from Nadi-san's face!**

"Creepy," Jaune muttered slightly bored.

"Yes, it is." Pyrrha agreed as Weiss found another book to look through while she waited.

 **Even while enjoying the sweets, Nadi-san didn't forget her professional duty, she talked about the land reclamation of the Seryuu city castle and various other things.** **Such peaceful afternoon tea time did not last long...** **Initially, a big shadow passes through the plaza.** **Followed by deep bass screams.**

Weiss glanced up from the book in her hands before shrugging and going back to her own reading. 'Come on…' Fox complained in his mind. 'It's not that bad…'

 **Crossing the plaza, a gigantic fireball pierces into the castle.** **  
** **One spire crumbles forward.** **After the cloud of dust and the sound from the collapsed spire expire, the people who were frozen in the plaza restarted. Screams arise, soldiers urge them to take shelter in an angry voice.** **The four armed demon float in the plaza while spreading his black wings.** **"Is there a custom for a demon to come play in the afternoon in this town?"** **"There is no such thing! Quickly, let's escape!"** **[Nonchalant Skill Acquired]**

"Eh…" the teens all just stared blankly.

"At this rate, we won't even finish the first volume," Fox muttered in a disappointed voice.

"Sometimes things aren't just meant to be." Blake patted Fox's shoulders sympathetically.

"You know, there's a cute cat-girl ninja later on," Fox revealed grumpily. "And a dog eared samurai."

"Eh." Blake waved her hands in a what can you do manner.

 **I said something foolish. Nadi-san pulled my arm to urge me to escape but maybe her waist lost its strength, she can't get up.** **Though it's shameful, I look at the situation around me to incite me to act. Somehow I can't digest the acquired information very well. As if my body is moving separately from my head.** **When the second fireball crosses through the rampart to the castle wall, a semi-transparent blue barrier stretched in the sky, and the fireball stopped.**

"I'm sorry Fox, but this is getting ridiculous. A demon attacks and he struggles to realize that, yes, something is wrong?" Nora criticized lightly.

"He also seems to be the type to ignore things if he thinks it would cause him problems when he clearly has the skillset to deal with it himself," Ren added in.

 **Just before the barrier set, groups of knights and magicians come out of the castle wall.** **Besiege him! Why don't you guys utilize the castle's defense?** **  
** **For someone so pathetic he can't even get up off his chair, I cursed at the knights. Even though I got knowledge about battle only from manga and games...** **The demon lands on a flower bed in the center of the plaza. He deliberately chooses to fight on the ground instead of in the sky with its advantage.**

"Not a bad idea," Pyrrha admitted

"I just wish this story gave me an actual reason to be invested in it." Weiss agreed as she smiled a bit from the book in her hands.

 **The heavy infantries in the back let loose a rain of arrows. Sounding like violent rainfall, the plaza is pierced. Unfortunately, every arrow that hit the black body of the demon is repelled.** **Three cavalry knights holding lances on their left-hand line up to assault the demon together. The demon exhales purple breath from his mouth toward the knights. Is that a poisonous breath? The face of the knights and the horse who got direct hits look pretty terrible. The knights who lose their vigor fell off their mounts and got kicked by the demon, flying to their companions.** **From the opposite side of those knights, another three cavalries rush forward!** **  
** **Although the first two knights got mowed down by the demon's tail, the other one who was late successfully impaled the demon's body with their lance.** **  
** **The knights who got mowed down by the tail stand up, and strike the demon with their swords.**

The two teams just groaned a bit watching the poor showing from the knights. "They're so…" Ruby bean trying to find the words to use.

"Useless?" Yang suggested

"I was thinking slow, or one dimensional." Ruby eventually decided. "But that too."

"I mean…they are basic soldiers, not heroes. They're basically the normal soldiers in the Atlas Military. Good against normal opponents like terrorists or low level grim but not much else." Blake pointed out.

"In other words, they're just there to make Satou look good." Weiss filled in as she turned the page in her book. "Oh my, I thought they were going to stick with the innuendo based humor."

 **The demon parries the Knights' attack with his claws and roars!** **  
** **Debris and little rocks rise and swirl around the center of the demon's jet black body, the swirling speed gradually increase...** **A chilling premonition crawls up my spine!** **  
** **I lift my body off the chair. I thought of escaping but Nadi-san, who's still weak in her waist and can't get up, entered my vision.** **There is no time. Escape is impossible.**

"Quit being so dramatic," Yang mumbled as she sighed.

"I guess action isn't really this author's strong point," Jaune muttered as he eyed the book in Weiss' hands.

 **I pulled down Nadi-san from the chair, and direct the thick marble desk toward the demon as a shield.** **  
** **I couldn't see it from my position, but at this time, the demon unleashes shockwaves of vacuum blades in all directions.** **It was close but I managed to hold Nadi-san behind the marble desk.** **  
** **Heavy impact shock the desk. Part of the marble was blown off from the vacuum blade. The view from the open terrace becomes tragic.** **The shops surrounding the plaza are either partially or completely destroyed. One is even struck with a small carriage terribly.**

Light snoring could be heard as they all turned to Nora who had drifted off to dreamland.

 **I took a sidelong glance at the demon who began to walk toward the soldiers who were struck with the shockwave and carry the unconscious Nadi-san to leave the plaza.** **I run like the wind toward the main street while carrying Nadi-san.** **  
** **The people who are evacuating are hustling to the inner wall, it's a dangerous situation.** **I turn down a side street before arriving at a packed crowd. Since both my hands are occupied, I operated the menu with thought and raise the [3D Maneuver] and [Jump] skill to level 10.** **Approaching the inner wall, I found a big building. Jumping while alternating between the inner wall and the building's wall like a ninja in manga, I cross over the inner wall.** **[Retreat Skill Acquired]**

"Really…" Jaune muttered

"I wonder what a max level retreat looks like." Ruby wondered aloud as she tilted her head curiously.

 **When I check the map, it seems that here is the verge of the east town.** **  
** **I forcibly stop a carriage that happens to pass by and ask the driver to escort Nadi-san to the worker's guild. The coachman is reluctant at first but he cheerfully undertook the job when I shove him a gold coin.** **[Persuasion Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Bribing Skill Acquired]** **This is not the time to scrimp on money.** **I rely on the memory from yesterday and take out a certain item from the storage while running.**

"Is he finally going to do something?" Weiss asked looking up from her book as the chapter came to a close.

"I don't know, are we even going to bother to continue the story?" Fox countered looking around.

"Eh…"

"That's not an answer."

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED?)

Poll on profile, results will decide if this story continues past the first volume.

Next chapter May 27 (maybe)


	9. Reading 1 - 9

Here is the next chapter!

Current poll results: 13 No and 12 Yes

One of these 'No' informed me that they would prefer if this story took an extended break before resuming.

The poll will close after the end of the Death March first volume.

Also, let it be known that I don't hate Death March personally, I've read up until the current chapter for the web novel. I am just aware that it starts extremely slowly and that the RWBY cast might not have enough patience to get to that part before giving up on it.

* * *

(BREAK)

Glynda hummed slightly as Fox gave her a rundown on what has happened so far. "It seems like this one is a real slow starter." She summarized simply as she flipped through the pages of the book taking in the various illustrations within.

"That would be an understatement." Weiss agreed as she sighed tiredly. "There has literally been nothing of interest yet, and the first potential encounter was sprung on us with no forewarning and used a stereotypical demon appearance."

Glynda raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the rest of Weiss' team. "She gave up on this story already," Yang admitted causing Weiss to roll her eyes.

"The main character is in denial that anything he has seen so far is real." She pointed out. "And somehow despite being basically all-powerful compared to the things around him still acts like he could get seriously hurt if something so much as kicked him in the shin."

"I don't remember anything like that happening," Ruby whispered to Jaune as Fox simply began to read.

 **Satou's here. Finding out my incompetence, Satou.**

 **A real demon is way too scary.** **Especially that roar!**

"Wow…" Nora muttered completely underwhelmed when the demon roared. "Soooo scary." She muttered sarcasm clear to all.

"Nora is losing faith in this story as well." Ren pointed out needlessly as he simply waited for things to progress.

 **Please do try hearing a lion's roar while standing close to the cage in a zoo. No matter how safe you know you actually are, if your heart isn't prepared, scary thing is scary.** **I came to the rooftop of a building where the plaza can be seen.** **  
** **From there I could see the demon and dozens of soldiers encircling it. Furthermore, the soldiers from the gate are protecting magicians behind them.** **  
** **Maybe the knights are seeing a chance for assault, the cavalries joined into formation with the soldiers in the back.** **The demon became the victim of the spear thrusts and arrows by the soldiers from the back.** **  
** **Apparently, the demon is playing around.** **  
** **The assaults didn't do anything, he catches the soldiers who attack him and seems to enjoy breaking their bones.**

"I see what you mean." Glynda mused to herself as she rubbed her chin. "It… just doesn't sound like the author knows how to portray a battle scene regardless of how…weak one side is compared to the other." She paused, looking for the right words "As for his fear… I suppose I can understand if he was a civilian unused to such things."

 **If the demon is the same existence as the ancient one, the soldiers probably taste terrifying fear and anger from seeing their friends killed.** **"Now then, it's good that I'm back, but there is no room to intervene in close combat."** **My appearance differs from what I wore earlier, now donning a worn-out cloak with a hood. Since I know that it'll get dirty anyway, I don't wear the expensive one.**

Blake sighed "Fox I'm sorry, but this is terrible." She stated bluntly causing the being's shoulders to sag.

"Does…the author get better?" Jaune asked trying to comfort the inhuman being.

"Remarkably so."

"That's good, I suppose." Pyrrha chimed in unsure if she could stomach however many chapters it took for the author to improve.

 **I take out the magic gun from my bosom. It's not the handgun type, but the one that resembles a rifle with a big scope.** **  
** **The demon moves around 300 meters away, so it's hard to take aim.** **Right at the time when the soldiers pull away, the magicians cast magic that buries the lower half of the demon's body in the ground.** **I pull the trigger on this good opportunity while the demon is unable to move.**

"He's too tense." Ruby pointed out as she took in the rifle. "Not a bad rifle though." She shrugged her shoulders.

 **And missed.** **Apparently, I was too tense when I pulled the trigger the line of fire came down a bit.** **  
** **Fortunately, I did not accidentally shoot the soldiers.** **The demon continuously got hit by fire and lightning magic, but encircled by a barrier, he doesn't seem to take any damage.**

"I'm seriously not getting any feeling of tension right now." Yang drawled as she reclined in her seat.

"Agreed" Weiss muttered as she looked for a different book to read while she waited for something interesting to happen.

"I'm surprised you let her read something else while this is going on," Glynda admitted to Fox who merely sighed.

"I'm not going to force someone to do something they don't want to do," Fox admitted simply as he glanced up from the book. "Besides she's not distracting the others at the moment so it's fine."

 **The moment the demon stopped moving I rapidly fire the magic gun, set at the lowest setting.** **The third shot finally hit! Besides the demon, a gauge appeared and decreased by a little bit.** **"What is this, a game?"** **[Shooting Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Aiming Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Sniping Skill Acquired]**

Nora raised an eyebrow before turning to Ruby. "What's the difference?" she asked

"Hm?" Ruby hummed in response

"The difference between shooting, aiming, and sniping. I thought they'd be all classified under the same thing."

Ruby nodded her head in understanding. "Shooting is probably the actual use of the gun itself, you know recoil control, posture, and how to reload. Aiming is how to lead a target, how to adjust any optical sights you have on the gun, and how to adjust for any peculiarities in the gun itself. Sniping is all that plus adjusting for bullet drop and wind interference."

"Oh."

 **In the corner of my view, the small log window displays messages for acquiring the skill.** **Looking away was a bad move. Without any time to avoid, a lightning bolt sent by the demon hit me. After hitting me hard the lightning struck the foothold I'm on. The roof of the building got destroyed.** **[Lightning Magic: Demon Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Lightning Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Paralyze Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Pain Tolerance Skill Acquired]**

"Still not feeling the tension." Yang groaned as she tried to get comfortable.

"It really doesn't feel all that dangerous for him." Pyrrha agreed.

"How is h struggling at all right now?" Jaune asked in a bored tone.

Glynda rolled her eyes. "Typical teenagers." She muttered under her breath.

 **"Ouch ouch, my hands and feet are tingling."** **If I had to say, it feels like the numbness you got after doing seiza. When I look at my own HP gauge, I've received 5 points of damage.** **Come to think of it, I haven't checked the level of the demon...** **  
** **I lament for a moment.**

"See? Five points of damage. That's like… a kick to the shin or something at worst!" Nora shouted out angrily. "Where's the drama, the skill, anything interesting?"

 **"How temperamental is that thing?"** **For the time being, let's quickly look at the important things. Demon tribe, level 62, [Lightning Magic: Demon], [Wind Magic: Demon], [Darkness Magic: Demon], [Fighting], [Flight] skills.** **I push aside the building's wreckage. It doesn't seem like I'm being pursued.** **[Self-Healing Skill Acquired]** **When I see my HP bar, before I noticed, it has been recovered. Natural healing huh?**

"Oh my god, that's considered a skill?" Weiss muttered as she buried her face into the palms of her hands.

The others could only laugh at the ridiculous nature of the skill system portrayed for them.

 **I move toward other building from the back alley.** **  
** **I assigned skill point for [Pain Tolerance], [Lightning Resistance], [Paralyze Resistance], [Shooting] and [Self-Healing] while moving.** **I found a 3 story building 100 meters away from the earlier one. I jump over the wall and onto the roof.** **Since the soldiers surrounding the demon has decreased to less than half, the methods to attack the demon increased for me.**

"Why doesn't he just work with the soldiers?" Ruby asked curiously. "I mean wouldn't that make it easier for him?"

"Cause he's stupid," Weiss muttered as she went back to reading her own book.

 **I take out bow & arrow from the storage and aim at the demon. I have never used a bow until now, but thanks to the sniping and shooting skills earlier, I somehow understand the aim.**

 **"Aim and shoot!"** **I take a good aim, the moment when the demon stopped... shoot.** **And missed.** **The hand which pulled the bowstring hurt.**

"I guess the skills just provide the knowledge?" Pyrrha guessed while raising an eyebrow at the lackluster performance.

 **After that, no matter how many I shoot, none hit. Even though I understand how to shoot the bow, there is no result.** **The enclosing soldiers have become considerably sparse.** **  
** **I discovered a route where I could get close to the demon discreetly, after marking the map I drop down from the roof.** **I equipped the scale tribe's spear.** **  
** **If I knew this would happen I'd have gotten leather armor tailored.**

"One would think he'd just hit it with all his might," Ren suggested simply. "I'm sure a level sixty-five demon would not be able to withstand a level three-hundred and one punch to the face."

 **Holding the spear with both hands, I hide in the shadows.** **[Spy Skill Acquired]** **Since I got a skill that looks useful, I immediately allocate skill points to it.** **  
** **There are several overturned big carriages on the way to the demon. I head there.** **  
** **When I invoke the spy skill, my footsteps disappear. Maybe it's just my imagination.** **The demon's roar can be heard and the knights got hit by lightning.** **  
** **That roar seems to be a spellcasting procedure.**

"I'm beginning to agree with Ren on this one," Jaune admitted as he started to lose interest in the fight. "It's like… why are you being so cautious? You can plainly see the level difference between yourself and the demon, hell you know that his lightning attack does five damage to you at most."

 **When the demon's attention wanders off, I shorten the distance and thrust the spear from behind!** **  
** **Stab! With that kind of unpleasant sound, the sensation of tearing real flesh is transferred to my hand.** **  
** **Me being a chicken, unintentionally separate my hand from the spear.** **My hands and legs are trembling.** **The demon's tail strikes the unmoving me from a blind spot, sending me flying 3 meters away. I stopped at the carriage wreckages after rolling on the ground.** **[Surprise Attack Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Spear Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Shock Resistance Skill Acquired]**

"This is honestly disappointing to me as a combat instructor." Glynda declared as she adjusted her glasses. "How can he be so unskilled at combat when he basically has an in-depth 'how to' guide in his head?"

 **My HP is only reduced by 1 point. However, I don't know whether this is because of excitement or fear from my first close quarter combat, my trembling limbs don't stop.** **  
** **Fortunately, the demon turned his attention to the knights who restarted their assault, I take a deep breath many times.** **The trembling subsides for a little.** **[Fear Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Reckless Courage Skill Acquired]** **I equip a small sword and shield made from bronze in the shadow of the wreckages. I left the sword in the scabbard and put it on my waist belt. Usually one would use metal fixture or special belt to hold it but it can't be helped since I don't have it. Let's buy it later.**

"I seriously hope this gets better soon, or I'm with Weiss in just ditching this," Blake muttered as she rolled her eyes at the scene.

 **I also prepare a small bow with an arrow. It's an arrow with a bone arrowhead. The demon is only a little over 10 meters away but I still don't think I'd hit.** **The demon lifted an attacking soldier and threw him at the knights.** **  
** **I match the timing to his throwing and dash closer. Shooting the arrow at zero distance unnoticed.** **[Bow Skill Acquired]** **I discard the bow immediately and slash the demon the moment I unsheathed the sword.** **  
** **The small sword broke. To break bronze in one hit...** **[Iai Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[One-Handed Sword Skill Acquired]** **「** **！！」**

"Oh, weird words!" Nora cheered happily at something new.

 **While cursing with incomprehensible words the demon attacked with poisonous claws.** **  
** **I promptly decide to receive the attack with the shield but it's also coming from the other side, the judgment come in the spur of the moment, using the broken sword to guard.** **  
** **Of course, such a thing can't defend the attack and breaks in a single blow from the poisonous claw.** **[Demon Language Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Poison Resistance Skill Acquired]** **I wanted to immediately enable the poison resistance skill, but there is no leeway to operate the menu on the battlefield.** **  
** **I prevent the poisonous claw coming from the opposite side with the shield and throw the grip I have in my hand to the demon.** **[Shield Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Throwing Skill Acquired]**

"This would be so much more interesting if this demon actually posed a threat to him," Ruby muttered sadly as she slowly lost interest in the book. There was nods of agreement from all of her friends while Glynda just watched with the patience only a teacher could have.

 **While trying to take out a weapon from the shadow of my mantle, I neglected my guard, tumbled by the demon's tail I rolled over.** **  
** **Furthermore, his foot tramples in pursuit.** **Fumu! Fumu! Fumu! 3 waves of stomping consecutively come, my body finally breaks away from the loop on the 4th attack.** **[Evasion Skill Acquired]** **Kicking the ground with a strange posture I take a distance from the demon.** **  
** **Finally gaining time, I allocated skill points to [Evasion], [Shield], [Poison Resistance], [Shock Resistance] one by one.**

"So bored," Nora whined as she slumped in her seat.

 **Covered by the mantle, I retrieve a dagger and a firewood club from the storage. I slip the dagger on my belt and hold the club.** **Somehow I got the feeling that a look of ridicule is floated on the face of the demon.** **  
** **I wonder if the demon has self-healing ability, his HP is recovering. There is no such skill in his skill column, is it a specific race characteristic?** **From the corner of my view, I saw the knights readying for the next assault.** **  
** **I carefully measure the distance while preparing the club.** **Ignoring the Knights' assault, the demon keeps his attention here.**

"zzz" Yang had fallen asleep.

 **I leap and strike the club at the demon's bust. It breaks when it contacts the black body of the demon.** **  
** **I defend from the demon's poisonous claws with the shield, avoid the tail sweep with minimum movement and jump.** **  
** **I slash with the dagger. The demon couldn't avoid it but is somehow able to parry with his claws.** **[One-Handed Staff Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Dagger Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Parry Skill Acquired]** **The knights begin to run towards us, when they reach the middle of the plaza, I stagger the demon by ramming my shield into it.** **  
** **I jump backward by using the recoil. Leaping over the horses and their riders.** **[Shield Bash Skill Acquired]** **The knights attack once then withdraw, then another one does the same, thrusting his lance and withdrawing.** **[Cooperation Skill Acquired]**

"I wonder what our cooperation skill level would be?" Ruby asked lightly as she glanced at her team.

"We'd need to know how the skill levels translate to real-world applications first." Weiss pointed out while Blake dutifully jotted down every skill Satou had.

 **From the 3 man formation, the last one fails to withdraw due to the demon's tail attack. Both the horse and the man topple over.** **  
** **I kicked at the demon who tried to finish the knight from the flank!** **[Kicking Skill Acquired]** **I picked up a spear with a broken tip near my foot fallen from the soldier and put back the dagger in the scabbard. As expected, a dagger's reach is too short so it's easy to parry, it's troublesome.** **I elude the demon by using the spear with a broken tip to gain time so that the knights and soldiers who have fallen from their horses can withdraw.** **  
** **While parrying I also strike some part of the demon's feet, sometimes hitting the arms carefully as not to make this into a unilateral defensive battle.** **[Two-Handed Staff Skill Acquired]** **The spear finally broke after becoming a prey of the poisonous claws.** **The demon's eyes are shining!** **  
** **Because I have a bad feeling about that I raised the shield and put my whole body in the shadow of my mantle. It's probably some kind of evil gaze attack. Is it charm, paralyze or petrification?** **The mantle and the shields turned into stone!** **...I endured it somehow, only the mantle and shield got sacrificed.** **  
** **It might have been dangerous if I moved a bit later.** **[Petrification Resistance Skill Acquired]** **Since nearing the demon might mean getting petrified, before he comes I allocate skill points to [Parry], [Petrification Resistance].** **Petrification attacks might not be exclusive to demons alone...**

"I take it, you're also of the mind that this isn't to your tastes?" Fox asked Glynda who merely shrugged her shoulders.

"It's not…beyond redemption." She spoke carefully as she tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "Admittedly I'm far more interested in the other book we were reading."

"I understand." Fox sighed before setting the book down and grabbing the other. "Shall we continue then, or should we take a break?" he asked looking around.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Next chapter June 10


	10. Reading 1 -10

Last chapter of volume one for Death March. Poll results will be discussed in the chapter.

Sorry this wasn't posted on June 10 like I promised. The heat in the area is making me forgetful for some reason.

* * *

(BREAK)

When the two teams returned Fox glanced up from his book and took note of how subdued Jaune looked. "Did something happen?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing bad." Jaune quickly denied as he rubbed the back of his head. "Just… detention with Professor Goodwitch."

"Ah," the fox-like being nodded in understanding. "Well as I'm sure you're all aware this is the last chapter of the first volume of the Death March series." He explained holding up the book in question. Ignoring the groans from the more action-oriented students he continued. "After this, we will put to a vote whether or not to continue reading this series or just drop it entirely."

"It's not rigged is it?" Weiss asked with narrowed eyes.

"What are you talking about Weiss?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"Don't forget Fox can control this space at his own will. Who's to say he can't just force us to raise our hands for a 'yes' vote?" the heiress explained causing the others to turn towards Fox with questions in their eyes.

"I'll admit that I asked some watchers to vote as well," Fox explained with a bow of the head. "Watchers are those from my master's world who watch these worlds as well, just so you know." He explained seeing the students about to ask some questions. "Their votes will be counted with yours."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "And we're only hearing about this now because…?" she trailed off as she made a motion for him to get to the point.

"PR" Fox shrugged his shoulders. The sounds of palms meeting face filled the room as RWBY and JNPR sighed in defeat.

 **"Greetings from the battlefield, the commentator Suzuki Ichirou, will be sent off by me, Satou."**

 **Expect to get even more skills with increasing tension, Satou's here.** **  
** **While pretending to be dead behind the mantle, I activate many skills but...** **  
** **I didn't expect it to cause a situation like that!** **Well then, let's start "Let's Dance With the Demon [Final Part]"!**

"Ugh, how asinine." Weiss rolled her eyes and looked around for a book to read while she waited for the vote.

"What's that mean?" Ruby asked Blake with a whisper.

"Extremely stupid or foolish," Blake explained. Ruby nodded her head in thanks while Jaune leaned towards Pyrrha to ask the same question.

"You could just ask me if you didn't know what I meant," Weiss muttered with a twitch in her eye.

"But you always give me that scary look when I ask you things like that." Ruby pointed out causing Yang to laugh while Blake looked at Weiss with a smug smile.

"Only when it's a word I think you should know by now." Weiss ground out as she glared at her other two teammates. "Asinine isn't exactly a common word to hear."

 **I take out a two-handed sword from the shadow of my mantle.** **  
** **At the same time, the magicians begin their counterattack, after waiting behind their formation.** **Fireball, Firestorm, Wind Blade, Lightning. Four systematic magics assault the demon one after another, and it also lands on me who is seemingly petrified near the demon.** **Furthermore, more attacks come after a bit. Stone Bullet, Sandstorm, Water Ball, Snowstorm.**

"Ooooh, pretty lights!" Nora cheered happily while Ren smiled at her enthusiasm.

 **The last one to arrive is simply a pillar of light piercing through heaven.** **[Fire Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Wind Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Lightning Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Fire Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Wind Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Earth Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Water Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Ice Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Earth Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Water Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Ice Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Light Magic Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Light Resistance Skill Acquired]** **The log flowed at a great speed.**

"That is so unfair," Yang muttered as she folded her arms. "Learn an ability just by experiencing it once?"

"It would make life super convenient." Blake agreed while Pyrrha frowned.

"I think I like it the way it is." She admitted. "At least then I know my efforts have meaning."

 **Maybe because of my level the damage isn't much, but unpleasant things are unpleasant.** **The demon seems to think the same, and returned lightning magic to the magicians' lot.** **  
** **Probably predicting it, the magicians defended with a barrier before the lightning hit.** **Already breaking apart from the magic earlier, I shatter the petrified mantle and shield.**

"Now that I think about it, I think this story would be better from a third person perspective rather from Satou's point of view," Ren stated causing the others to look his way. "He's obviously the type to gloss over the details in order to get the information out quickly, but because of that we, the readers, don't get a good feel for what's going on."

"You might be right," Weiss admitted as she finally found a book she could occupy her time with. "Hm, this short story is almost done is it?" she muttered to herself as she flipped through the pages.

"What's that?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"Filth"

Pyrrha blinked in surprise at the answer. "Than why are you still reading it?" she asked at length causing the others to look at Weiss oddly.

"I have needs too." She replied airily.

 **Being a bit away from the demon, I stand up and immediately jump to close the distance. Aiming at the demon's head I swing the two-handed sword.** **  
** **Since the demon tilted his head, the full attack did not connect, but I succeeded in cutting one of his horn.** **[Two-Handed Sword Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Helm Splitter Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Air Battle Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Weapon Destruction Skill Acquired]** **The soldiers are looking over here while saying something.** **  
** **They're probably surprised that someone who just got shot by barrages of magic could calmly fight.**

"I think Ren's right." Ruby muttered softly "This just doesn't feel tense at all."

"Right?" Nora agreed loudly as she hugged Ren tightly causing the boy only a minor discomfort already used to her antics.

 **With my disheveled long blond hair swaying on the back and the silver mask reflecting the sunlight, I face the demon.** **  
** **I thought that a hooded mantle would suffice, but it was a good decision to prepare additional disguises as insurance.** **After receiving that much-concentrated fire the demon finally suffered about 20% damage.** **I bear the two-handed sword to on my shoulder. I have no problem wielding it, but it's hard to balance my body due to the weight. It's good that I become younger and all, but since my body also became lighter it might be a minus in a battle.**

"I remember taking forever to get used to Crescent Rose when I first made her." Ruby nodded in agreement.

"I'm pretty sure most people don't make weapons heavier than they are." Jaune pointed out needlessly.

"Most people aren't awesome like me." Ruby stuck her tongue out at him while Yang swatted at her for the small jab.

 **For now, the demon is too close to the magicians' base. If I don't somehow lead it away from the plaza…** **I don't want you to misunderstand me, this is not because of some sort of heroism of not wanting any victims. The reason is quite selfish; they do damage the demon, however small it is, so it's troubling if they're all annihilated.** **The demon attacks during the gap where my thoughts derailed. Dashing on the ground, the poisonous claws rushed towards me!**

"How heroic." Blake mused sarcastically.

"It would be so much better without his personal input on things." Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement.

"I was hoping to see the important supporting characters soon, but I guess we won't." Blake sighed in disappointment.

 **Even if I tried to shake the demon off with the two-handed sword, it boldly closed the distance not letting me get away.** **I throw the two-handed sword at the demon to elude the poisonous claws, taking out a hatchet from the mantle and use it to cut the demon.** **  
** **Because the hatchet stuck deeper than I thought, I left it there and avoided the demon's counter.** **[One-Handed Axe Skill Acquired]**

"Boring." Yang drawled as she leaned back in her chair.

"Action scenes are obviously not this author's strong point." Jaune agreed

 **While empty-handed, I'm exchanging blow with the demon while retreating.** **  
** **Sometimes, I pick up weapons dropped by the soldiers on the ground to add onto the attack. Since I haven't activated physical attack-related skills, the damage I'm doing is small.** **Should I break the deadlock soon?** **Most knights have wounds all over the body, only a few of them are unhurt. There aren't any useless shots from the magicians either, seems that they ran out of magic power.**

"What's the story you're reading about Weiss?" Ruby asked her partner.

"Pyrrha embracing her sexuality," Weiss answered simply causing said champion to blush heavily.

"EXCUSE ME? Pyrrha screamed as she tried to snatch the book from Weiss' hands. However, the Heiress quickly flipped out of her chair and kept the book out of Pyrrha's hands. "Give me that book Weiss!" Pyrrha growled as she made to chase the heiress down.

Fox huffed as things degraded from there. "Kids." He muttered with a roll of his eyes. "You done yet?" he asked once everyone had settled down. Seeing them all nod their heads in return he continued reading.

 **Seemingly, it's not only me who thinks so, from the castle gate several horses come out pulling a cannon.** **I position myself to divert the demon's attention from the gate until the cannon finished setting up.** **When I get near the wreckages I draw the demon's attention, behind the wreckages, I switch my weapon. I put a blacksmith's hammer onto my waist, and wield a two-handed axe and a sledgehammer in each hand.**

Nora frowned "That's so impractical." She muttered angrily.

 **It's not really practical but thanks to my maxed STR, I can wield it just fine. Maybe because I look ferocious, the demon's expression becomes unpleasant.** **I jump from behind the carriage. First, let's strike with the sledgehammer!** **  
** **The demon guarded to the right with both hands but without minding it I slashed from the opposite side with the two-handed axe.** **  
** **The axe cut through, and the arm fell!** **...I remember, from some manga, about an episode of an arm that had been separated from the body attacking independently. Let's pay attention to that arm...** **[Two-Handed Axe Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Two-Handed Hammer Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Dual Wielding Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Herculean Strength Skill Acquired]**

"Must be nice to have that much strength," Ren noted only a little jealous.

"Certainly make things a lot easier." Jaune nodded in agreement as he crossed his arms.

 **Though it's a different story with a surprise attack, after all, fighting using a sledgehammer with one hand is difficult, I fight single-mindedly with the two-handed axe.** **  
** **The cannon still isn't prepared yet.** **The demon inhales greatly.** **  
** **Magic!** **I close the distance. But, that was a bad move.** **The demon let out an acid breath!** **Even though I've seen it once! I completely forgot that it has this kind of attack!** **  
** **I guarded with the axe which immediately broke, the wig and the robe got terribly burnt.** **  
** **"Ouch, ouch, ouch!"**

"Is it really dangerous for him though?" Ruby asked in some confusion.

"Probably not, but he seems like the type to bitch and moan about a paper cut." Yang dismissed it easily.

 **I go to the nearest cover, throw off the robe behind the bronze statue, and wear a new mantle. I wore commoner clothes underneath the robe yet there's also a large hole in it too.** **If the surface area of the axe wasn't big, my face would have burned...** **[Decay Resistance Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Quick Dressing Skill Acquired]** **I allocate [Decay Resistance] and [Quick Dressing] with skill points.** **I wonder what the variety of skills are, I want a wiki.**

"What's a wiki?" Pyrrha asked looking at Fox.

"It's like an online informational page." The being explained pulling up a wiki page about apples as an example.

 **Since the axe is no longer usable as a weapon, I throw it away; I try to strike once with the blacksmith hammer from my waist. Since it didn't seem very effective, I put it back when I got the skill.** **[One-Handed Hammer Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Blacksmith Skill Acquired]** **I think blacksmithing is quite different from this...**

"Wait he got blacksmithing from hitting something with a blacksmith's hammer?" Ruby asked in disbelief as she gaped at the book. "That's so unfair!"

 **Meanwhile, the cannon installation is complete, but it seems that it will require some time before it could fire.** **I pick up the sledgehammer which I discarded earlier.** **  
** **Of course, the demon doesn't let up his attacks, but whether it's because of the avoid skill, or because I'm getting used to fighting, I've reached the point where I have some margins in this fight.** **I should end this soon...** **  
** **I allocate skill points to [One-Handed Sword].**

"He _should_ have ended the fight as soon as possible." Weiss pointed out as she giggled slightly. "So naughty." She whispered still reading her own book.

"I thought that was your shtick," Yang whispered to Blake who glared at the blonde brawler in return.

 **The cannon seems to be ready to fire. Magicians on both sides of the cannon begin to cast spells.** **The demon seems to be really worried about the cannon. It's putting up an air.** **  
** **The demon charges toward the cannon during the gap when I avoided its tail attack!** **I discard the heavy sledgehammer and pick up a sword lying on the way while chasing the demon.**

"Oh gods above this is bad," Pyrrha muttered covering her face with her hands. "Please tell me it gets better."

"Eh, I think it does," Fox gave his own input

 **The demon, with agility belying that huge body, jumps over multiple soldiers who block the way.** **  
** **The light soldier with spears immediately cover but they become prey to the poisonous claw.** **But the demon stopped.** **Just like the demon, I jump over the soldiers and cut one wing off the demon, then I pierce the sword to its leg and stitch it to the ground. After getting the sword skill, I could understand the principle of swordsmanship. The demon only has 30% remaining on its HP gauge.** **  
** **Furthermore, I pull the only remaining arm of the demon to the ground.** **  
** **I intersect the demon's arm to its leg, and with my free hand pick a spear left by the killed soldiers earlier to use it to crucify the demon on the ground.** **[Fighting Skill Acquired]** **  
** **[Capture Skill Acquired]**

"Yay, something cool!" Yang cheered as the others laughed with her.

 **I look at the person who looks like a commander besides the cannon who's measuring the timing to shoot the cannon.** **I fix the demon with another spear and nodded there.** **The commander swing down his arm, at the same time, I jump off from the line of fire.** **The cannon shoots out buckshot and innumerable wounds appear on the demon's body. Moreover, as a final blow, a magic combo like earlier struck.**

"Hm, I wonder if that's enough," Jaune muttered watching as things unfolded.

 **I wonder if the cannon can't shoot multiple rounds, it didn't finish the dying demon. The magicians probably don't have enough magic power either, only three people cast spells.** **I could end it if I run there with the sword but let's give the honor of ending the demon's life to those guys. Like I said earlier, this is not out of goodwill; even if the opponent is a demon, I don't like killing with my own hand. It's really stupid, but I'm from society unrelated to violence since a long time ago... Even though I eat meat and fish, I shirk on killing.**

"Ugh, he's so naïve," Weiss muttered with a groan.

"It's like a huntsman saying they won't kill Grimm because they don't believe in killing," Ruby muttered in distaste. "If something is so obviously evil and bad than kill it!"

 **Putting that aside...** **The demon used the tattered hand freed from the stitch to lift up its body from the ground, raised a roar and destroyed the cannon with lightning magic. Is there no one who could use a barrier anymore?!** **Then the slightly late magicians use magic to shave the little of the demon's strength (HP).** **  
** **Furthermore, the knights get off their horses and sidle up to the demon with their long swords ready.** **...It'll end after the encircling completely, huh. Amen~**

"This guy is so flippant about everything that I'm actually considering reading more just to find a scene where he gets the shit beaten out of him," Blake muttered with a frown.

 **The end can already be seen, but the demon hasn't given up yet.** **The hand which has been restrained by the knights is thrust into its own chest, pulling out a dark red heart. The pulled heart begins to pulse harder. Matching the violent movement, light overflow.** **The knights hurriedly try to destroy the heart, but they don't make it in time.** **With loud bursting sound, the heart breaks apart!**

"A last-ditch suicide attack," Jaune muttered sadly.

"Satou could've saved them," Yang muttered angrily. "If he killed the demon then that wouldn't have happened."

"He'd rather let them die than kill a demon," Ruby whispered in horror

 **When the light subsided, several magicians who set up barriers have become corpses in a heap. Only the lower half remaining of the demon's dead body. The ground is gouged in a fan-shaped form following the demon's direction toward the castle gate, the gate itself has been partially destroyed.** **The demon's corpse falls apart and becomes black dust.** **I slip into the alley during the clamor and hide.** **Title [Combat-Ready] Acquired** **  
** **Title [Skilled Warrior] Acquired** **  
** **Title [One Who Dances With Demons] Acquired** **  
** **Title [Hero] Acquired** **...I wonder if the last one is sarcasm.**

"He got a hero title," Nora whispered in shock. "He half-assed the entire fight and even let those people die at the end because he didn't want to be the one to finish it off. And he still got a 'Hero' title…"

"How disgraceful," Pyrrha muttered in distaste as she crinkled her nose.

"Alright, shall we vote now?" Fox asked pulling up a whiteboard to tally the votes. "All those in favor of continuing to read this story?" Blake, Yang, and Ren raised their hands. "All those in favor of dropping this story?" Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Weiss raised their hands.

"Alright so with the watchers that makes twenty-four continue votes and twenty-three discontinue votes,"

"Blake why?" Weiss lamented as Yang and Blake shrugged their shoulders guiltily.

"I wanted to give this one more chance," Blake admitted simply. "I _am_ surprised Yang voted with me though," She admitted glancing at her partner. "I thought you didn't like this story."

"I saw some pictures from the other volumes," Yang admitted with another shrug of her shoulders. "Some of the girls are adorable."

"When did you even?" Ruby asked in amazement.

"I followed Weiss-cream's lead and looked around for something to distract myself during the boring parts," Yang explained simply. "I just want to see the dog-girl and the cat-girl before I drop this."

Ren hummed slightly. "I'm more curious about the food that will be displayed in the story. If we could try them perhaps I could learn a new recipe."

"Ugh, if you didn't count the votes from those watcher people you mentioned we could've read something else as a group." Jaune moaned in disappointment.

"Sorry, but their opinions matter too." Fox apologized softly

"I may not like the decision, but majority rules." Pyrrha grimaced slightly hoping things would get better.

Nora just groaned and flopped onto her back "It better get better soon!" she howled lamely.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Just to clarify I wrote this all up before I closed the polls. If there had been two more no votes or two less yes votes this story would've been discontinued.

Anyways, so as things stand we will continue with RWBY reads Death March. I will bring up the "should we continue?" Poll near the end of volume 2 and we get to decide if we keep going then.


	11. Reading 2 - 1

Finally getting these out again. I will also finish my own story sometime in the future… maybe.

* * *

(BREAK)

Fox clapped his hands together catching everyone's attention. "Alright I know we've been reading Professor Arc a lot recently but it's time to return to Death March." He announced as Neo tilted her head to the side when most of the Beacon students groaned in response.

Seeing her confusion Ruby leaned closer to the diminutive assassin. "It's a really slow-paced story and there's zero tension at all." She whispered getting the look of disgust from the ice-cream themed woman.

Neo held up a sign that read "Do we have to?"

"Yes, we do, there was a vote to see if we would continue reading it, and the majority said yes."

"That being said the voters are things we can't even prove the existence of," Weiss complained as she scowled. "How do we even know these 'readers' exist?"

"And they just so happen to vote in a way that makes it one more yes vote than no votes after you counted us?" Nora added in with narrowed eyes.

"I thought you were over that," Fox admitted with a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

"You underestimate our hatred for this story." Weiss supplied dryly.

 **Satou's here. Feeling like a veteran warrior, but after all, I'm just an average citizen, Satou.**

 **Although it's hard to call this a victory, for once, the battle is over.** **  
** **Hereafter is the battle of lifesaving and rebuilding.** **It's about time for a harem candidate to appear, right?**

Neo felt her eye begin to twitch. "Is it like this the whole time?" her sign read.

"Pretty much," Blake answered with a shrug. "I said it before you joined us, but I'm only giving this one more volume before I drop this entirely."

Yang nodded her head. "I want to see some of the main girls, they looked really cute." She grinned before grabbing a book and opening it up for them to see. The picture showed Satou carrying a dog eared girl and a cat-eared girl under each arm as both children laughed.

"Fair enough," Weiss grumbled her love of cute things well known by her friends at this point.

 **I take off the robe and mantle in a desolate back-alley. Overlapping with all map exploration magic to check for a human sign, I also took off my disguise.** **Well, it's just a wig and a mask though...** **I put the disguise set and the robe in the forbidden folder inside the storage.** **  
** **Which robe should I use now?** **I take out a uselessly gaudy robe.** **  
** **This one should be okay.**

"It really is gaudy," Ren noted blandly

"I don't know a single person willing to be caught dead in that," Jaune muttered with a twitching eye. He pointedly ignored his friends staring at him in shock.

 **I decide to return to the street after changing to the gaudy robe. Of course, using a different route.** **There's a soldier's corpse stuck on the tree branch along the way. To be flown to this place... I join my hands to pray for it.** **For now, let's return to the plaza after performing an obligatory prayer.**

"Not dead are they?" Ruby asked leaning towards Blake.

"Doubt it." She agreed

 **"Err... The gaudy person over there~."** **...Somehow there's a voice coming down from the tree.** **Confirming on the radar, the corpse earlier isn't a corpse at all, somehow it's quite alive.** **  
** **I look up.** **"I'm sorry, could you call some soldiers? It's okay to do it after the battle in the plaza is over."**

"Really calm all things considered," Pyrrha muttered approvingly.

"Aren't they too calm?" Weiss asked with a raised brow.

 **The first impression is quite favorable due to the absence of "help me".** **  
** **However, even though the soldier is caught in the tree's branches... The hands and feet aren't turned toward strange directions.** **Now then, is there any scaffolding to help the soldier?** **  
** **...Guess I'll just kick that window and land on the other branch.** **I fly to a branch near the soldier. In consideration of possible fracture, I land while trying not to shake the branch.**

"So in order to pull someone out of a tree, he'll stand out, but as soon as it comes with doing the world a favor and killing a demon he backs off?" Yang frowned as she crossed her arms.

"Mixed Messages," Neo wrote on her sign.

 **"Well then, I'll carry you down so please don't move."** **  
** **"Eh, how did you get here? Please don't push yourself and just call the other soldiers!"** **I silently carry the soldier in my arms.** **  
** **If the soldier has fractured bones then landing on the ground could be dangerous... Since there are at least 4 meters until the ground.** **  
** **Thus, I jump to a slightly higher roof next to the branch.** **"Though I jumped while taking care not to jolt you as much as possible, are you all right?"** **  
** **"Yes, that surprised me but I'm fine."**

"They're too fucking calm!" Nora screamed as she stood up abruptly causing the others to flinch in surprise. "Even I'd be startled and cry out if Ren suddenly picked me up and he's my bestest friend in the world! Why is this other world type story a fucking slice of life, slow-paced, nothing happens story!" she ranted getting wide-eyed looks from her teammates.

 **I move from roof to roof in search of a house with an exit from atop the roof.** **  
** **There is a lot of unaired laundries, it probably got left behind after the demon came.** **After checking for people on the radar, I get out of the house to the alleyway.** **  
** **I carry the soldier in princess hug to the plaza.** **"Hey, I have a little question..."** **  
** **"Yes, what is it?"** **  
** **"Even if you were blown away by the demon, isn't it too far?"**

"Okay, this is a fair point, it doesn't look like they should've blown that far." Yang agreed as Ren worked on calming Nora down.

 **This isn't a gag manga. From the plaza to here is more than 10 meter apart.** **"I got blown away by the attack of that demon since I would have died at that rate, I used magic to decelerate my falling speed. Although I was already running out of magic power. I was at a loss when I got caught on that branch."** **Magic seems to be usable even if one isn't a magician...** **There is a temporary relief station in the plaza.** **  
** **A bit away from the relief station, mats are placed and several 'people' are lined up there... It's not for the injured but for corpses huh...**

The two teams grimaced seeing the corpses "He could've saved those people." Ruby muttered agitatedly causing Neo to tilt her head in confusion.

"It's like seeing Roman not stealing something with a big red neon sign on it that says steal me." Blake offered as an analogy.

Neo personally didn't see the problem with that, but she got the gist of what they meant. 'Wouldn't something like that be a trap though?' she thought to herself.

 **"People who were rescued from the wreckages, please gather over here."** **A woman in a white coat shout for injured people to assemble over there, so I head there.** **"For people who are holding the patient, please keep a little distance away from their body."** **So she says, I stretch my arm to make a gap on my chest.** **"I will cleanse the dirt, it may be surprising, so please don't drop them."** **"** **Soft Wash."**

"Magic!" Ruby cheered happily.

"The visual effects _are_ nice" Weiss conceded

 **I got drenched along with the soldier. Certainly, the dust and the blood (from the soldier who died first earlier) on the robe are gone.** **[Life Magic Acquired]** **It's certainly very useful magic. If there is this kind of magic then I wonder if bathing isn't needed?** **"I will dry it immediately."** **"** **Dry."**

"How convenient" Yang mused slightly jealous.

 **"It's complete. Well then, please wait inside the circle drawn with chalks over there. That's the place where we gather injured people."** **The white coat heads toward the next person.** **  
** **This is the first time I heard magic chant in close proximity but rather than word, I heard irregular sound instead. I guess it feels like the musical notes from a DTM software?** **Though it's not life-threatening the people who have broken bones are gathered there. It's full right after we got in. I don't have any injury, I'm here in order to learn new skills.**

"Ugh, …he's so…robotic." Jaune complained "Like…everything is done either because it's efficient or necessary. Nothing's done for fun or out of interest."

 **Two girls with priestess-like clothes and kind atmospheres quietly approach, each accompanied with their attendants.** **"Now the Parion shrine maiden will grant you their miracle. Everyone, please be silent."** **  
** **The attendant with big build shouted so to the injured peoples. And out of nowhere, the attendant with small build tells the tense people, "Please relax your body~".** **After the injured people calmed down, the shrine maiden begins the magic chant.** **「** **」** **  
** **「** **」** **  
** **「** **Area Heal.** **」** **Holy Magic: Parion Belief Acquired**

"Boring~" Yang drawled as she leaned back in her chair.

"Dull" Weiss agreed with a nod of her head as she picked up a book and flipped through it.

 **Most people seem to be healed by the magic spell just now.** **  
** **The two attendants go around to give additional healing for people who need them.** **The big attendant said, "Since it's a bone fracture, please rest quietly later", while giving first aid to the soldier I carried.** **Oh yes, this isn't a BL okay? Even though the soldier is still physically growing, she is an actual woman.**

"Oh, that's nice to know I suppose…" Blake muttered.

"They could've told us earlier." Neo wrote angrily.

 **Now then, I've learned various magic but I don't know their chant, there are magic shop and bookstore that sell magic books in the plaza, but the stores were destroyed so they're probably closed now...** **"The good you do for others is the good you do for yourself."** **Let's make myself popular with the bookstore and the magic shop by helping them with selfish reasons in mind.**

Pyrrha frowned before following Weiss' lead and looking around for something else to read. "I hate these types of people."

 **A carriage is half-buried under the magic shop.** **  
** **After confirming that there are no survivors near the carriage, I pull it out.** **  
** **...When I think about it, I'm standing out by doing this, aren't I?** **There's a corpse in terrible condition stuck on the carriage, nausea is swelling up inside me... I'm weak with gore so please pardon me.** **The inside of the magic shop has been destroyed but it seems that the people inside are fine because of a back door. Since I see people's figure on the radar beyond the back door, thinking that they're fine I head toward the bookstore.**

The sound of snoring filled the room as Nora collapsed into her chair.

 **The front wall of the bookstore is destroyed, it looks like it'll collapse any minute now. When I peek inside, numerous bookshelves have been toppled and books are scattered around.** **  
** **From the map, it seems that there are two people squashed under the bookshelves.** **The bookshelves are lined up edge to edge, thanks to them being made with dense ebony, they're very heavy.** **  
** **I raise the bookshelves** **I cram the book between the shelves** **Whenever I raise a bookshelf the leftovers books get in the way and then I can't raise the next bookshelf so the work takes quite some time. Also partly because I'm afraid that the shelf will break if I try to forcefully raise it.** **  
** **1 hour after the work begin, I finally able to rescue a person.** **It's a boy of around 10 years old. He's unconscious but he's breathing. The HP is about half, I stop working and bring him to the relief station. I didn't forget to tell them that the boy was rescued from the bookstore.** **It's not the priestess from earlier, but a person that looks like a magician who heals people with water magic. Huh, healing magic can be done with many elements.** **  
** **There are more priests now but they all dress differently, I wonder if there are different sects.**

"Hm? That sounds important." Blake mused as she glanced up from her own book.

 **Now then let's stop procrastinating and get back to work. Because the one left who need rescuing is certainly the storekeeper!** **I continue the mundane work of raising the bookshelves and stowing away the books until finally, I was able to help the old man storekeeper buried in the books.** **  
** **He didn't get crushed under the bookshelves but he seemed to be squashed by the fallen books, his HP is quite low. He's conscious though.** **"Thank you very much for helping me."** **It's an austere voice quite fit to be a seiyuu. What a romantic gray-haired old man, he must've been quite popular back in the day.** **  
** **Outside the store, the old woman and the daughter have come back. It seems that they went shopping to the west gate which was closed until just now.** **I carry the old man to the relief station. The old woman also follows. The daughter remains in the store to clean things up.**

"I guess these people aren't important at all," Jaune muttered as he yawned loudly.

"Nope." Ruby agreed with him as she waited for anything interesting to happen.

 **In the relief station, the injured people who have come have increased even more. As expected the healer can't catch up. The two healer priestess attendants from earlier run out of MP and are sitting on the couch.** **I search through the storage... there.** **  
** **I take out 3 MP recovery medicine from my pocket and give it to the two attendants. It's a service for the skill I got earlier.** **  
** **At first, the big attendant was suspicious but after he knew that it was MP recovery medicine he thanked me.** **  
** **...but, please stop drinking it in one gulp while having one hand on the hip. You look like an old man.** **  
** **The priestess is silent with a pale face looking down. I wonder if she's tired from using too much magic.** **I leave the storekeepers to the relief station and head back to the store to help with the cleanup.** **I had forgotten the important matter.** **The daughter of the bookstore. Her name is Semone-san. She's actually the granddaughter, and big-breasted! It's hidden by the clothes, but it's unmistakably E cup! With long blond hair and a pair of blue eyes, she's about the same age as Nadi-san!** **I'm correcting the bookshelf positioning while having a calm idle talk with her, I'm enjoying the work while placing the books which lost their binding in a box.** **  
** **I love organizing books~** **I mark all the interesting book during the placements.** **  
** **Arrow marks can be seen in plenty through AR.** **When the day is about to become dark the storekeepers come back.** **  
** **I politely refuse the invitation for dinner, I purchase 3 books that catch my attention and go home. They wanted to give it as thanks, but I compromise with just having slight discounts.** **"Royal Capital Tourist Guide", "Introductory Book for Life Magic", and "Life Magic Book" which should be 2 gold coin and 3 silver coin become 2 gold coin with the discount.** **...Unfortunately, the bookstore daughter is married. The husband is a magician...** **Title [One Who Prays for the Dead] Acquired** **  
** **Title [Rescuer] Acquired** **  
** **Title [One Who Protects Books] Acquired**

"Is it over?" Yang asked as she looked around. "Can we go back to reading Professor Arc? I'm getting the feeling that Neo does something really funny in the next chapter."

Neo looked up in interest as she glanced at the host.

"Well we'll just have to read and find out won't we?" he asked as the others all put away their own books or worked on waking themselves up as ox pulled out the other book.

* * *

(To be Continued)

Honestly, now that I'm reading it again, I can't believe I stayed with Death March to its current chapter. It really is a stereotypical Isekai type where there aren't any problems the MC can't fix and absolutely nothing is an actual threat to the MC.

Anyways next chapter should come out Aug. 26th


	12. Reading 2 - 2

Once everybody was back in their seats Fox pulled out Death March causing everyone to groan loudly.

Weiss sighed as she grabbed a random book off the floor and began reading. "Let me know when it's over." She urged waving her hand lazily.

 **Satou's here, even though there are many encounters, too bad that it immediately end, Satou.** **  
** **Is it the face! It's the face, isn't it!**

Neo yawned and curled into a little ball in order to take a nap. Pyrrha felt her eye twitch seeing Neo using Jaune as a pillow. "Jaune." She whispered angrily.

"Uh…" he struggled to find words. "Hi Pyr?" he offered weakly. ****

 **Because there were various things happening yesterday, I was fast asleep right after dinner.** ****

 **Today is a reading day!** **  
** **...Is what I thought, but the room is dark. There is a window for light to get through but it's still not enough to make books readable, it's too dim.** ****

 **If I'm not mistaken there's an open terrace cafe neighboring this inn.** **  
** **Let's eat breakfast special at the coffee shop. I dunno if it exists but...**

Blake sighed tiredly as she pulled out her own book and began to read. "And another chapter of nothing happening." She mused aloud as Ruby and Yang groaned in annoyance. ****

 **The tavern on the first floor of the inn is crowded with people who are taking breakfast. It seems that the customers have increased a bit compared to yesterday.** **  
** **I give the key to the landlady since I'm going out. Martha-chan happily greets me when I come out of the inn. This old man is dazzled by your morning radiance.** ****

 **The gate also looks remarkably busier than the day before yesterday. Lots of big carriages are going in and out pulled by peasant-looking people. Do they not use cows or horses to pull it?** ****

 **I immediately find the coffee shop when I look around outside. It's slightly farther away than what I remember.**

Nora fell asleep atop Ren who simply zoned out staring into nothing. ****

 **It seems that the coffee shop uses the indoor for meal while the open terrace is for tea time. When I naturally ask the waitress, it doesn't seem that it's the owner's decision to do that. Because the inside of the shop is a bit dark, I secure a seat on the open terrace for easy reading.** ****

 **For breakfast, I order fruit and sandwiches. The sandwich has ham, vegetables, and cheese sandwiched between the malt bread. The fruit juice is similar to Citrus. It tastes a bit richer than orange. The cup isn't made of glass but copper but since it's cold, it's still quite delicious. I wonder if it's cooled using life magic? My motivation to learn the magic increases~** ****

 **Oh, yeah, there are 3 waitresses. A 20-year-old plump redhead, a 16-year-old slender chestnut-colored hair with an impressive teardrop mole, and the last one is a girl who looks younger than 12 with a long black hair.** ****

 **Everyone is working cheerfully.** ****

 **While enjoying these sights, I read the introductory book for life magic.**

Blake giggled slightly as she covered her mouth while reading her own book. Her friends raised their eyebrows but didn't inquire any further as they went back to their own interests. ****

 **Life magic is magic not classified in any of the four main elements of magic, it's a collection of magic useful for daily life. It's magic incomparably weak compared to the elemental one. In exchange the required magic power is not much, at the level where people who can't use attack magic can use it. Nevertheless, even with so many convenient spells, most magicians look down upon life magic. They call magicians who can only use life magic, spell-users, and rather than as magicians, these people are treated as town handymen. Because of this prejudice there are only a few magicians who learn life magic. There are even lamentations regarding this written in the book.** ****

 **"Good morning, Satou-san!"**

"I'd love to be able to use life-magic though." Yang mused aloud as she glanced up from her Scroll Game.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to have." Ruby agreed as Neo looked up from her nap to nod in agreement showing that she wasn't actually asleep which only increased Pyrrha's ire. ****

 **I was greeted from outside the terrace. It's Nadi-san.** **  
** **I thought that she's still in shock from yesterday's event but she looks surprisingly energetic. She's strong even for an energetic archetype!** ****

 **"Good morning. How is your condition, Nadi-san?"** **  
** **"Thank you very much for your help yesterday. Not only did you help me get away from a dangerous location, you even sent me with a horse carriage."** **  
** **"It's fine, it wasn't much."** ****

 **Since she's here, I offered her a chair.**

"Oh yeah, she was in danger a bit ago wasn't she?" Pyrrha questioned having honestly forgotten.

"I think so." Weiss agreed with a shrug of her shoulders as she glanced up from her book. ****

 **"Is that a book on life magic?"** **  
** **"Yes, I bought it yesterday hoping to at least be able to use the basics."** **  
** **Since my life magic skill is level 10, the only thing remaining is the chants though.** ****

 **"For life magic, I recommend practicing Water Spring or Dry, depending on your main element. Most books usually recommend Ignition but if you cause fire in the town, it could be dangerous."** ****

 **Certainly, it's just as she said.**

Ruby sighed as she waited for something to happen. "Do we really have to finish this volume?" she asked Fox looking hopeful.

"Yes Ruby, we do." He intoned politely causing the red reaper to slump in her seat. ****

 **"If it's Water Spring then you can store the water in a bucket, but please don't use the metal cup beside you since it's easy to scratch."** ****

 **Do I draw the water from vapor?** ****

 **"If it's dry then you can practice using wet clothes placed on a hanger."** ****

 **It's quite a scientific talk. Even though it's fantasy.** ****

 **"That's right, Does Satou-san not use a cane? You can't use magic if you don't equip a cane."**

"Sounds like a fantasy story alright," Nora mumbled from her spot next to Ren.

"Hm?" Ren blinked before zoning out once more. ****

 **What! There's such restriction.** **  
** **Come to think of it, the magicians from before did have it, the life magic-user was also using a cane.** **  
** **Wait, how about that soldier? And the priestess didn't have one too.** ****

 **"Do you mean Parion priestess? If so then they have holy mark in place of a cane. The soldier probably had other kind invocation tools or maybe a backup short cane?"** **  
** **"Nadi-san, what is invocation tool? Is it different from a cane?"** ****

 **"Invocation tool is something like ring or the likes of accessory, functioning like a cane, it's an item used to assist the activation of magic. The effect is lower than a cane, but it's expensive so there are few magicians who have one. Although for a job like magic swordsman where it's not possible to use a cane then it's a necessity."** ****

 **As expected of the live Wiki. The one-woman encyclopedia, Nadi-san.**

Jaune yawned as he leaned backward. "I can't believe this story has so many chapters…" he muttered aloud getting nods from his friends. ****

 **Cane huh... There are various types of magic wands in the Storage. But the effect is too strong, it's scary. If possible, I'd like to practice with cheap things first.** **  
** **But the magic shops in the town center won't be in operation for a while, I wonder where I could get one?** ****

 **"Nadi-san, Do you know anywhere I can buy a short cane?"** **  
** **"Then the magic shop in the central... But as expected, it's closed because of yesterday, right? I think you can buy one from the alchemy shop in the western town."** ****

 **I make a note of the way to the alchemist shop from Nadi-san.** **  
** **Then after telling me the important points to note in the west area, Nadi-san went back to her work.** ****

 **Now that it's lunchtime in the open terrace, the customers have increased.**

"Surprise, surprise a restaurant gets busy during lunchtime." Yang placed her cheek on top of her fist and sighed in a bored manner. ****

 **I finished reading the introductory book just as I finished eating pasta for lunch.** **  
** **...Why is this fantasy town very peculiar about taste!** ****

 **10 minutes after I've entered the western area, the content of the dummy purse I've hanged on my waist is gone. The bottom of the purse is cut and the content is no more, though there were only pennies inside.** ****

 **From looking at the log, it was not a pickpocket. It's really a game-like function.** ****

 **I've passed through the area where they're selling daily necessities, and suspicious-looking shops began to increase in number. Sexy women and evil looking old men can be seen wandering around.**

"The slums or the Red Light district?" Blake asked looking up for a moment.

"Yes, it looks like it," Weiss muttered in distaste as she turned the page of her book. "Oh my~"

Blake looked at her friend in confusion before surrendering to her curiosity and making her way over to see for herself. "Oh my…" she repeated as she covered her mouth with a hand a small blush forming on her cheeks. ****

 **There's a square in the center of the west area. The alchemy shop is further ahead.** **  
** **Street stalls are lined up in the square, selling birds, cattle and the like competing with each other.** ****

 **On the entrance of the square, a merchant is announcing something about the slave market. It seems that it'll be open for 3 days from tomorrow night.** ****

 **When I look at it carefully there are boys and girls with slave collars on their neck standing in line with cattle. Half of them seems to be hurt. Every one of those slaves has dead eyes. The cattle look healthier than them.** **  
** **I had the urge to buy them all, but it's only for self-satisfaction so I stopped. It's not the end even after they're released after all. ...Isn't this just an excuse?**

Pyrrha frowned but held her tongue, choosing instead to lean into Jane who looked at her in surprise before smiling and leaning into her as well. Neo glanced up at the two before making a gagging motion. ****

 **Coming out of the square, brothels lined the streetside. I subtly feel like this is a period drama.** **  
** **Still, lewd professional older women are the best, right? Rather than an unwilling slave, a pro well versed in sexual culture is better.** **  
** **Tonight, let's go to a shop with beautiful older women! I wonder if there are cabaret? I'd love to have a lewd conversation over a bubble bath but...** ****

 **The main topic has been grandly derailed.** **  
** **The alchemy shop seems to be located in the middle of this brothel street. There's probably a high demand for drugs~** ****

 **I wonder if it's thanks to Nadi-san's advice of only walking on the center of the road, I've arrived at the alchemy shop without being dragged to an alleyway. No wait, there was that pickpocket so it wasn't entirely safe...** ****

 **"Good afternoon. Are you open for business?"**

Ren came back to reality before blinking at the passage. "He sounds like an old man." He noted blandly causing Nora to giggle a bit. "What?" he asked his childhood friend.

"Nothing Ren!" she chirped. ****

 **There's a dwarf on the counter inside the shop. Let me say this, it's not cute at all. It's a small old man about 1 meter tall. Is he a gnome? Or a hobbit?** **  
** **The AR indicates that he's of a fairy race. When I look better the "Earth Fairy (Gnome)" indication come up.** ****

 **"If you're window-shopping, Go away."** ****

 **Aw, how cold.** **  
** **...This isn't a pun okay?** ****

 **"I'd like to buy a short cane, do you have any in stock?"** ****

 **"Spell-user eh? There are cheap, expensive, and really expensive one, which one do you want?"** ****

 **So rough~** ****

 **"Please show me the cheap one and the expensive one."**

"Is this story trying to be cutesy or something?" Yang asked whilst raising an eyebrow.

"Not really working," Ruby muttered tiredly. ****

 **The shopkeeper takes a wooden and a copper short canes out. The short canes look like something a certain famous British boy had, it's a simple wand. If you don't understand, then please imagine an orchestra conductor's baton but a bit thicker.** **  
** **I stare at each of the canes and their performances are displayed on the AR. The wooden one has [Magic Activation Support + 3][Magic Effect Expansion -2], and 2 big copper coins market price, then the copper one beside it has [Magic Activation Support +3],[Magic Focus Support + 2],[Magic Effect Expansion +2], with 3 silver coins quoted as the market price.** **  
** **To be frank, even if I can see the performance I don't understand where the difference is.** ****

 **The copper cane seems to have better performance, but the wooden one looks something that a magician would have, so I buy that one.** ****

 **The shopkeeper looks displeased since I choose the cheaper one.** ****

 **I might as well buy some medicines here.** **  
** **That's right, if you're talking about alchemy then it's potion.**

"A certain famous British boy?" Jaune asked while looking at Fox.

"It's a reference to this book series," Fox explained as he pulled out a bookshelf from the wall with seven books on it all featuring a boy named Harry Potter. "Before you ask we're not reading these." He informed them as the bookshelf receded back into the wall. ****

 **"Are there manual and tools for compounding?"** ****

 **The shopkeeper grins while laughing. He probably thinks that I'm an easy mark.** ****

 **[Introductory Book for Medicine Compounding, Practical Writing],[Book of Poison and Antidote][Book of Illness and Treatment], 5 compound tools set with extravagance cases, medicinal plant harvesting set tools, and chemical mixtures for beginner set. "These are all!" So he said after piling them all up.** ****

 **...Hmm? Am I being tested?** **  
** **The magic imbuing tools have a [Magic Imbuing Type Fake] status. The others are genuine.**

"Crafty old man," Weiss noted with a small smile.

"One would think you wouldn't like that." Pyrrha pointed out.

"Would you willingly sell something potentially dangerous to someone who has no clue about what they're doing?" Weiss countered. Pyrrha shrugged her shoulders unable to refute to point. ****

 **"Is there no other one for this magic imbuing tool? It's not to my liking."** ****

 **I openly point out the fake. It's how an adult interact.** ****

 **"Fumu, it's a tool used to nitpick amateur who doesn't understand a thing."** ****

 **He somehow looks happy. It's not only reflected on his face but the atmosphere has also softened a bit.** ****

 **This time he takes out 3 imbuing tools.**

"I suppose it was too much to ask for something more engaging than that," Weiss muttered in disappointment. ****

 **One is decorated with high-class looking ornament, another is a tool that looks like it has been used a lot, and the last one is a cheap-looking and obviously fake tool. The high class one is specially equipped with magic when I hold it up and move my hand, it emit a weak green light. It goes without saying that the expensive one is fake.** ****

 **"Then, I choose this one."** ****

 **Of course I picked the well-used one.** ****

 **The market price is 15 gold coins eh. At any rate, does a beginner spell-user who comes to buy a cheap short cane look like someone who has money?** ****

 **"I see, so you choose that one... If you have this one, then you won't need another, besides raw materials, even after you've become a veteran alchemist.** ****

 **"How much is it?"** ****

 **"10 gold coins."** ****

 **Eh, isn't it much cheaper than the market price?** **  
** **The shopkeeper grins when he sees my face.** ****

 **"Just as I thought, you have the appraisal skill."** ****

 **The shopkeeper looks proud with his guess. I don't have such a skill.** ****

 **[Appraisal Skill Acquired]** ****

 **Let's not argue back...** ****

 **"Is it really okay with 10 gold coins?"** **  
** **"Yeah, I'm saved if someone as capable as you studies alchemy."**

"Woo! Discounts!" Nora cheered causing the others in the room to laugh. ****

 **When I think about it, isn't this thanks to haggling skill?** ****

 **I pay the price and receive books among other things. As one expects, my bag doesn't fit.** **  
** **I decided to return to the hotel while holding the books in both hands.** **  
** **I leave the shop after thanking the shopkeeper.** ****

 **The things I need to do increase again.** **  
** **I will learn alchemy after I've learned life magic!**

"Ugh please tell me this dog-eared girl and the cat-eared girl come up soon," Yang begged as she looked at Fox.

"I believe so." He mused unsurely. "I haven't read the first few volumes in a long while." He admitted. The teens plus Neo groaned loudly at that."

(TO BE CONTINUED)


	13. Reading 2 - 3

Glynda raised an eyebrow when everyone else all groaned when Fox took out a different book. "They don't seem to like this one." The being explained seeing her confusion.

"Then why are we still reading it?" she questioned simply.

"I made a promise, and seeing that fulfilling that promise is not detrimental to anyone's safety I see no reason not to keep it." Fox continued as he set everything up. Glynda hummed a little but saw little point in arguing with her host.

 **Satou's here. Waving the short cane, rather than a magician I feel like a conductor.** ****

 **Conductor skill doesn't appear. I'm a bit disappointed Satou.** ****

 **The harem flag seems to be still so far away.** ****

 **After I returned to the hotel, I put away the alchemy sets.**

"Pardon?" Glynda questioned as she tried to parse out the wording.

"Yeah…the main character in this one…" Yang trailed off as she tried to think of a good way to word her thoughts.

"Think of a civilian Professor Ozpin who suddenly gains the power to do whatever he wants without any personal consequence and without anyone to reign him in or even challenge him if he turned bad." Everyone turned towards Weiss who shrugged her shoulders. "I figured that would make the most sense to Professor Goodwitch."

Glynda covered her face in horror at the thought. "He's bad enough as it is…" she trailed off causing the Beacon students to laugh nervously. ****

 **I wanted to put it inside the Thirty Holding Bag, but from what I've heard from Nadi-san during the tour, the item was popular for the wealthy back in the era of the ancestor king Yamato, however, nowadays it's only attainable for the army, higher-ranking nobles, or a very prosperous merchant.** ****

 **Since it's like that, I can't use it casually. It's not a problem if some thieves caught their eyes on it, but if it was a noble then it could become impossible to continue touring this city.** ****

 **Following the instruction from Nadi-san yesterday, I fill a bucket full of water from the Hell Water Jug. I dip a cloth to the water and squeeze it. I take out a pot I bought yesterday and put the cloth there.**

"How…" Pyrrha began trying to be polite about it.

"Droll, boring, drab?" Weiss offered as she pulled out her own book. "I couldn't agree more."

Glynda raised an eyebrow before looking to Fox "It's fine." He assured her "Honestly I can't believe I've read this story to its current point myself…" he laughed in a slightly self-deprecating way. ****

 **All right, preparation complete!** ****

 **It's time for the chant for Dry!** ****

 **"Lu lula la li lu... la?"**

The musically inclined of the group all winced as they covered their ears. "Is he tone deaf?" Blake asked in annoyance as

"That's an insult to the tone-deaf," Weiss growled as she glared at the book. "Not even the tone-deaf could be that bad." Ruby laughed nervously as Weiss continued to glare. ****

 **Even though I can read the word, I can't pronounce it! Do I need to read 100 characters in one minute fast?** ****

 **What kind of impossible game is this?** ****

 **Then, I continued to practice chanting while feeling discouraged but I wasn't able to in the end. The cloth will get dry even if I don't use magic but I'm not happy about this at all.**

"Huh, so he's not perfect." Jaune mused as he rubbed his chin.

"Still overpowered and boring though." Nora chipped in as she listlessly played with Ren's pink lock.

"I'm just hoping for some sort of advancement this chapter" Ren admitted with a stoic expression. ****

 **"Okay! Let's ask for some help!"** ****

 **I get up clenching my hand!** **  
** **When in trouble it's Nadi-san! Let's ask for some advice from Nadi-san.** ****

 **"Nadiemo~n, please help me~."** ****

 **Even while feeling like clinging to a straw, I'm heading to the Worker's Guild.** ****

 **...But unfortunately, Nadi-san is absent.**

Neo eventually got bored and decided to grab a pillow and took a nap behind Team JNPR's couch. Pyrrha looked bemused more than anything as Glynda rolled her eyes. ****

 **Since Nadi-san doesn't come back even until evening, I'm going to the bookstore in the central district. There should be other books about Life magic besides the ones I bought.** ****

 **On the way there, I was called to the clothing store. Apparently, my order has been completed early.** ****

 **I wonder if the shopkeeper remembers when I said that I didn't have a change of clothes, so he hurried the order.** ****

 **Let's receive it after that much trouble.**

"Oh yeah, he did something like that didn't he?" Ruby asked looking up in thought. ****

 **"It really suits you well."** **  
** **"Yes, you look like the heir of a big company or a noble."** ****

 **The shopkeeper and his wife praise me highly.** ****

 **To confirm the size I take a pose in front of a full-length floor mirror.** **  
** **However isn't this better than the sample back then? No, it's not a self-praise.** ****

 **"Indeed, and it's better than the sample."** **  
** **"That's right! Since it's a rush order, I asked a different tailor than the usual, but these fine lines and sewing are well done, truly splendid! Really~ thanks to the customer, I found a nice tailor."**

"Oh, amazing…" Blake intoned dully as she turned the page of her book.

Glynda hummed slightly as she considered what little she had seen so far. "It is very slow-paced." She admitted as she waited for something to happen. ****

 **How do I say it, I feel like apologizing.** **  
** **After this much, let's just wrap my cloth earlier and wear this new one now.** ****

 **When I get to the gate I was asked to present the ID card. According to the gate soldier, it seems that some thieves got in after the disturbance, so it's now required to present your identification.** ****

 **In the plaza, most stores along the main road are open. Because most of the fight happened in front of the castle gate, besides a few unlucky shops most are unscathed.** ****

 **I bought tea leaves in a specialist shop facing the plaza shown by Nadi-san yesterday, I also bought some spices from a spice shop.** ****

 **On the luxury food store I bought rice, miso, soy sauce. Like I said, why is this fantasy-(abbreviated)?**

Yang sighed "It doesn't look like the main girls come in yet." She muttered in a bored manner. Seeing Glynda looking at her in confusion Yang quickly pulled out the illustration booklet and showed the teacher the pair she was talking about. "These two, see? They look adorable." ****

 **In front of a tavern in the plaza, a bard is singing a poem about yesterday's demon and the knights with a full sense of reality.** ****

 **...Isn't the mysterious silver mask a bastard child of the earl? Such songs are sung. The mask was actually tin but it has been promoted to silver.** ****

 **Since I relatively enjoyed it, I gave him a silver coin. ...I was a bit ashamed though!** ****

 **How many detours could it be just to go to a bookstore?** ****

 **"Satou-san, thank you very much for yesterday!"**

"Bards singing…" Ruby smiled thoughtfully. "I wonder how those people of legend would feel about the songs about them."

"They'd probably hate it." Blake mused as she considered the question. "After all those songs usually get a lot of things wrong in order to make it sound better." ****

 **Semone-san greets me with a smile inside the bookstore. Apparently, today is her turn to look after the store.** ****

 **"Hello Semone-san. How is the old man's condition?"** ****

 **"Yes, he was healed with magic, but since he's of age, my grandmother is watching after him to rest for 2-3 days."** ****

 **Old man, you've got a good grandchild, I'm envious.** ****

 **I'm gossiping some miscellaneous things to cushion for the real talk.** ****

 **"You're searching for books regarding the way to practice chanting of life magic?"**

"Who is this kid again?" Yang asked looking around.

"I guess she's the grandchild of the bookstore owner he saved after the fight last time?" Jaune muttered.

"Oh, you mean that family that didn't even get their names known?"

"Yeah them…" ****

 **"Yes, I was able to understand the explanation on the book I bought before, but I'm struggling to actually chant it..."** ****

 **"Umm, Satou-san, Life magic skill is relatively easy to remember, but normally you'd need 3-5 years of training to master it. Moreover, even with that much training, 80% of people usually end up in failure."** ****

 **But I got the skill after receiving the life magic once? It's a cheat after all...** ****

 **"Umm, even if you already have Life magic skill from the beginning, people who can remember the chants are..."** ****

 **Let's hear it since I have nothing to lose anyway.**

"This guy…" Nora felt her eye twitch as the story continued. "It's like watching someone pick up a gun for the first time in their life and wondering why they can't hit the target at the very back of the range on the first try." ****

 **"A person who has a gift? Right, There are people who come from a long heritage of magician family having magic skill right from birth, but a person like that usually has family members who can use magic..."** ****

 **There is no need to learn from textbooks... is what she wanted to say, eh.** ****

 **It can't be helped, I'm just gonna buy vocal training and acting related books.** **  
** **Let's start improving my flow of speech.** ****

 **The magic shop facing the main street is covered with something that looks like a tarpaulin. It's closed just as I thought.**

"All the training in the world won't help if you have no musical sense at all," Weiss muttered as she continued to read her own book. ****

 **"Hello, nimble onii-san."** ****

 **Turning my head, there, a girl wearing a plain yet elegant one-piece tilts her body forward while looking at me with upturned eyes. With a slender body and long straight bob hair, she's a charmingly beautiful girl.** ****

 **"Hello soldier-san, you're wearing a lovely dress today."** ****

 **[Lip Service Skill Acquired]** ****

 **Please don't interrupt my talk...**

Pyrrha giggled a bit seeing that skill. "I didn't know flattery was a skill as well."

"Just about everything is a skill in this world." Blake reminded her. ****

 **"Ehehe~, since we seldom have rest, there aren't many chances to wear this~"** ****

 **"About yesterday, have your bone fractures healed?"** ****

 **"Yes! I want to say that, but the place where it breaks still occasionally hurt so I thought of going to the temple."** ****

 **Just to make sure, she's the soldier I saved from a tree yesterday.** ****

 **"Can you not heal yourself?"** ****

 **"There is no healing method in wind magic you know."** ****

 **I see each element has its own forte.**

"Name!" Ruby shouted angrily. "Give us her name!" ****

 **"Ah~ Zena is boy hunting~~!"** **  
** **"Oh, it's true, Putting aside the face, he's well dressed, furthermore, he's younger! You're good, Zena."** ****

 **"You girls, please don't make fun of her. Even though she's a late bloomer, that girl works hard, let's just watch over her warmly."** ****

 **I wonder if they're soldier-san's friend, some noisy girls are standing in front of a shop's entrance while whispering to each other closely. There's a subtle insult mixed in oi.** **  
** **Soldier-san's name is Zena eh, it's a good nutritious sounding name.** ****

 **Zena-san is opening and closing her mouth silently with a red face. This kind of reaction is cute~**

"Ugh… typical Mistralian protagonist." Jaune groused as he waved it off. ****

 **"Y, you're mistaken. I'm just thanking him for saving me yesterday."** ****

 **The three girls harden a bit after hearing that.** ****

 **"By saving you, don't tell me!"** **  
** **"That silver masked hero-sama?!"** **  
** **"It can't be!** **He was brandishing a sledgehammer and a two-handed axe together you know? This delicate looking boy can't possibly do that."** ****

 **"No… that's not it."** **  
** **Zena-san's word doesn't reach the three girls.** ****

 **"But isn't his height match?"** **  
** **"Isn't the color of the hair different? That gentleman was blond."** **  
** **"And he's not using a mask."**

"Eh…" Ren hummed as he looked himself over briefly. "Do I look like that?" he asked his friends who made so-so gestures. ****

 **"Mou, please hear me!"** **  
** **Zena-san shouts with her whole body!** **  
** **The three girls finally pay her attention.** ****

 **"This man carried me who wasn't able to move due to injury to the relief station yesterday!"** ****

 **"Ah, you mean that kind of [[helped me]]."** **  
** **"But then, that's a golden opportunity in a way!"** **  
** **"Don't liken her with you, Zena doesn't have such resourcefulness in her."** ****

 **Yep, it's noisy. This is for Zena-san to meddle with. The three of them feel like they're cheering for her with no malice or sarcasm, they probably cherish her.** **  
** **I wonder if it's a good time to interrupt them.**

"So…if this Zena girl is this group's Ruby…" Yang grinned as she looked over the other girls in the book. "Do you think they have our kind of dynamic?"

"No way." The others immediately waved her off.

"You're right, I'm one of a kind after all." The rest of Team RWBY just sighed tiredly. ****

 **"Pleased to meet you, I'm Satou, a peddler. I'm planning to stay in this city for a while, pleased to make your acquaintance."** ****

 **"Onii-san, you're really not Zena-cchi's boyfriend?"** ****

 **"I just met her yesterday. Furthermore, I only knew her name after everyone here called her such."** ****

 **"But but, for Zena to wear a skirt and go on a date!"** **  
** **"It is not a date." (Zena)**

 **"But you never wore a skirt, even on holidays before."** ****

 **Zena-san and the three girls who look like the same age as her are lively exchanging words.**

"Oh, she went out of her way to dress a bit more girlish for this?" Nora asked eyes glimmering with glee. ****

 **"I'd love for you to go on a date with Zena-san. This girl, even with her age, never takes a walk with the opposite sex, let alone a boyfriend."** **  
** **"Yep, even if she's a fallen noble with no gold or status, she's a good girl. She's flat-chested but she's an adept wind user with promising future as a soldier."** ****

 **The remaining two also recommend Zena-san.** **  
** **I like her personality. In five years, after she becomes a bit well-rounded, I'd like to make an advance~** **  
** **Zena-san stops her quarrel and goes back here.** ****

 **"We're not fallen! My little brother properly inherited the rank. Although it's true that we don't have gold or status in government..."** ****

 **So Zena-san is a lower noble.** **  
** **...She didn't object about the flat-chest.** ****

 **"Let's stop playing around with Zena-san and go back to the castle. If we're late for the shift, the commander's special training awaits."** **  
** **"La~ter~ then, Zena-cchi. Let's hear about various things thoroughly later~"** **  
** **"Zena, push through with sex appeal and defenselessness! Show your guts!"** ****

 **The three girls reluctantly return to the castle.** **  
** **Zena-san is relieved while looking a bit ashamed.**

"Teenagers never change regardless of world or circumstance do they?" Glynda hummed thoughtfully. ****

 **Hmm? One girl came back here in a trot and gave Zena-san something.** **  
** **Zena-san initially has a blank look, but after she understands what the handed over thing is, her face turns bright red. Probably expecting this reaction, the girl is going back to her friends while saying "Good luck~".** ****

 **Zena-san secretly puts the thing she got in her pocket, and I don't intend to pursue it.** **  
** **Because I'm an adult, yep.**

"It's got to be one of those right?" Yang asked looking at Pyrrha.

"Why are you looking at me when asking that question?" she asked indignantly.

"Cause who else would I look at?" Yang asked innocently.

"Blake?"

"Excuse me?" Blake asked, insulted.

"What was it?" Ruby asked honestly lost as the argument continued.

"Uh…" Yang looked lost as she tried to get the others to help her.

"Miss Rose." Glynda cut in saving the brawler. "Perhaps it's best you not learn until you have a boy you're interested in romantically." She paused letting that sink in. "Once you become interested in boys come see either me or our school nurse Miss Kitsune."

"Oh… okay." Ruby nodded along glad that Glynda gave her something to keep in mind as to when she'd be able to learn all of this weird adult stuff.


	14. Reading 2 - 4

Weiss groaned "Must we?" she asked seeing the hated book in Fox's hands.

"Yes, at the very least for the rest of this volume." Their host explained as he rolled his eyes.

"So even you have limits to your patience," Ren noted with a small sigh of relief. "I was beginning to wonder I you were devoid of any actual emotions."

"Now that's just rude."

 **Satou's here. Rather than a hero, I want to be a magician.**

 **Chanting (aka DTM), such an impossible game broke my heart.**

 **I was healed a bit after the girl's talk with Zena-san and her friends.**

Glynda raised an eyebrow "This… Satou person seems incredibly odd." She noted having finally gotten a decent picture of his character.

"Yeah… he's a weirdo alright." Yang agreed as she sighed. "I really want this story to get a move on."

"Keep dreaming Yang," Blake muttered as she sank into her chair.

 **"I'm sorry about all the fuss. They're not bad girls, it's just that it was unusual that I'm with a man..."**

 **She's coming with upturned eyes. It doesn't feel mischievous like in the beginning, this time it really looks timid.**

 **"They look like fun people. I don't particularly dislike it."**

"Honestly that's how I see Ruby introducing you to her boyfriend in the future." Nora teased Yang who huffed.

"As if she'd get one without me knowing about it."

"Yang!" Ruby whined as the others laughed.

 **"I'm happy if you think that way. That reminds me, you looked troubled in front of the magic shop earlier, is something the matter?"**

 **"Yes, I hit a roadblock in my magic chanting training. I was wondering if they have books concerning chanting practices, but as you see they're closed."**

 **"Satou-san, you're, ummm is it fine to call you Satou-san?"**

"Oh right, he couldn't chant last time." Nora hummed

"The only thing he can't do so far," Ren added in as the others in the room rolled their eyes.

Neo held up a sign. "Self-gratification story."

"You're not wrong Miss Neo." Glynda agreed as she adjusted her glasses. "I don't mind the slow pace, but it doesn't feel like there's a point to the story. As if there's no plot at all."

"Like someone came up with a world, but not a story to write within that world." Weiss surmised.

"Precisely, Miss Schnee."

 **"Of course it's' fine."**

 **I'm already calling you Zena-san without permission.**

 **"Is Satou-san not only a nimble peddler but also a magician in training?** **That reminds me, today you're not wearing gaudy clothes~, I think this one match you better."**

 **So fixated on the nimble part, this person is.**

"I guess she wants a man with nimble fingers?" Yang waggled her eyebrows suggestively causing Blake to palm her face while Weiss became red with embarrassment.

Neo smirked and wiggled her fingers suggestively "Neo…" Jaune sighed as Yang and Neo began laughing.

 **"I want to be able to use Life magic so I'm training on it, but I just can't get the chanting part right..."**

 **"Let's see, for wind magic, people usually start with ■■■■** **but if they try to forcefully chant it, it usually comes out like lyu~lia la~lule li la~o. If it's just memorization, then most people can do it."**

 **Zena-san is tilting her head with "I wonder how I should explain this"-look on her face.**

"That's the face Pyrrha makes when she tries to explain things." Jaune laughed softly as Pyrrha blushed.

"I do not." She whispered as she looked away.

"Yes, you do." Ren countered her with a simple smile on his face.

 **"Rhythm. Yes, please try to slowly recite the chanting and remember the rhythm. Then while keeping the rhythm gradually increase the chanting speed so it becomes ■■■■!"**

 **I see~, however, even if what she said isn't exactly a secret, isn't it still something that shouldn't be easily taught to other people?**

 **"Rhythm huh... I understand, thank you very much, professor. I'll practice hard in that direction."**

"Please as if this person can keep a rhythm." Weiss rolled her eyes

"Don't be mean Weiss." Ruby admonished her

"I'm being realistic Ruby."

"You can do that without being mean."

 **"Yes, I'm happy that I can help you."**

 **Zena-san smiles.**

 **I should give her something as thanks.**

 **I've decided to go together with Zena-san halfway to the Parion temple in the west district.**

"It's… disjointed it feels like." Blake mumbled as she tried to parse things together in her mind.

 **"Speaking of which, how long did Zena-san practice to be able to use wind magic?"**

 **"The real training was 3 years, but in hindsight, I've done various things during everyday life in preparation to become a magician~"**

 **I wonder what kind of things? ...I hope it's nothing serious.**

 **"In order to learn the history of magicians, from when I was a child, I was made to read aloud picture books for children, poem singing, practice to read lines smoothly, abdominal breathing... Toys for detecting the flow of magic. Even the children's plays were for the sake of training to become a magician.**

 **Zena-san looks a bit gloomy for a second.**

 **"It's not like I bear ill will toward my parents for raising me like that you know? Learning magic is fun anyway, and I have an objective to fly in the sky someday."**

"Everything seems geared toward preparing to use and learn magic." Pyrrha frowned a little as it reminded her of her own childhood where everything was about becoming a better fighter.

 **But there is no other road to choose from the beginning...**

 **"Satou-san. Why does Satou-san want to learn life magic?** **Is it because it's useful for business?"**

 **"No, since there is no bath in the inn, I was thinking if I have magic then I wouldn't have to take a bath outside..."**

 **Ah, she's amazed.**

 **She looks me in the eyes directly and bursts into laughter.**

 **Is it that interesting?**

"That…seems like such a waste of time," Ruby muttered. "I mean… it's like trying to learn how to drive a car because you don't want to walk down to the store for groceries."

 **"Ahahahaha!** **Th, this is the first time I've seen a person who has such reason for wanting to become a magician."**

 **Seemingly hitting the spot, Zena-san's laughter doesn't stop.**

 **"Is it that strange?"**

 **I think that it's a relatively proper reason though.** **Don't you want to make inconvenient things easier?**

 **"It is strange!"**

 **An immediate answer.**

"I don't see how taking a bath is inconvenient," Weiss grumbled

"Well for us it isn't." Blake pointed out. "But imagine if you had to bathe as Satou did earlier."

"I see…" Weiss hummed as she reconsidered her stance on the issue.

 **"Because if you have the drive and the fund to learn life magic, isn't it faster to just build a bath in your house? And you can just buy slaves for the job of boiling the bath."**

 **It's like that huh~**

 **I will do things I could do myself!** **I'd like to think like that, but even over here, it's normal to hire people to work, since the labor costs seems to be cheap.**

 **"Mister, please buy some flowers."**

 **When we got to the west street, a little girl carrying a small knitted bag filled with flowers immediately stops us.**

"Aw, a flower girl." Nora cooed as her eyes sparkled.

"What?" Jaune asked looking to Ren for answers.

"She likes flowers." The stoic boy shrugged his shoulders

 **The little girl stops while holding out a flower. I've catch sights on her various time before but this is the first time she calls out to me.**

 **I wonder if people accompanied by women are easier sells?**

 **She's well thought out even though she's just a little girl.**

 **"Okay, how much is it?"**

 **"A penny for a bundle."**

 **I receive the flowers in exchange for a penny. The little girl happily thank me and go toward the next customer candidate.**

"That seems cheap." Ruby tilted her head to the side in wonder.

"Probably because she can just go outside to pick flowers. The amount of effort it takes her to get more isn't very high.

 **I present the flower to Zena-san.**

 **Zena-san looks surprised.**

 **No, well, there is no other choice than this isn't it?**

 **"Umm, is it fine to take it?"**

 **"Yes, I'd be troubled if you don't receive it."**

 **Since I can't throw it away.**

 **Zena-san bites her lip while looking very happy.**

 **Huh? Is it something to be so happy about?**

 **...Well, I guess it's fine as long as she's pleased.**

"How sappy," Blake muttered as she rolled her eyes.

"Not your thing?" Yang asked as the others glanced their way.

"I'd rather receive something more practical."

 **"That's right, Satou-san. Do you have any business after this?"**

 **"No, after chanting practice I have nothing in particular"**

 **...There's alchemy, but I can do that anytime.**

 **"Th, then, why don't we go to the street stalls on the way to the temple?"**

 **"Yes, I'm fine with that. If possible, I'd like you to tell me the specialties of this town."**

"Ugh so boring," Nora whined as Neo nodded her head in agreement.

 **Zena-san probably never had experience of inviting someone herself, her face turns bright red halfway during the suggestion. Since it's just me, you don't have to be so tense you're fumbling words.**

 **That reminds me, when was it decided for me to go along until the temple? She did me a favor regarding the secret of chanting, and I shouldn't complain since it's a date with a girl.**

 **"Specialties is it?** **Leave it to me!"**

 **She's full of confidence. I could expect something, maybe.**

"Didn't he say he was going with her to the temple earlier?" Jaune questioned as he glanced up at the ceiling.

"No, he said he'd go halfway there." Ren corrected causing Jaune to hum in acceptance.

 **"This is made from sweet potatoes, steamed sweet potatoes are filtered to become jams which then kneaded together to make bread. It's a Seryuu city's specialty from long ago."**

 **Something that looks like sweet potato kneaded for bread huh. Quite a subtle presence...**

 **"These are deep-fried bat wings spread with black miso."**

 **It seems that Zena-san doesn't know the cuisine's name either. The shopkeeper who couldn't stand shutting his mouth any longer tells us. ...it's Dragon Wing Fries.**

"Dragon Wing Fries huh…" Yang rolled her eyes at the name.

"Would you like to try them?" Fox asked as he looked up from his work.

"Uh…can we?" Yang asked taken aback by the offer. "That's right we can try all the food we see in this story huh…" she mumbled having forgotten that little tidbit.

"It'll only take a moment." With that said Fox stood up and disappeared through a side door. As the two teams struck up conversation amongst themselves Glynda and Neo took time to look around the room.

When Fox returned he was carrying two baskets of what looked like French fries shaped like bat wings. "Here you are, some Dragon Wing Fries."

"Not bad." Blake hummed as she chewed on it thoughtfully.

"Too greasy," Weiss complained as she set her piece down.

"It's fast food Weiss that's to be expected." Yang rolled her eyes before taking her own bite. "Hm…it's kind of like a fried chicken strip."

Overall the audience seemed to like it as they all gave their own quick thoughts on the snack food.

 **It seems to be foods said to bring luck.**

 **"And then these are things I'm taught by Lilio. Ah, Lilio is the smallest girl from the trio earlier."**

 **Putting aside the girl's name.**

 **The thing that Zena-san recommends is ...light brown?** **...I wonder, what is it?**

 **For the time being, I bought two serving for two pennies from the stall's uncle seller.**

 **I guzzle the brown liquid using the straw plugged into it handed by the uncle seller.**

 **It's a starch syrup!**

 **"Starch syrup huh. It's nostalgic~"**

 **"You knew about it~"**

"Starch syrup…" Weiss made a face.

"Well, certainly it isn't the healthiest thing around." Ren nodded his head seeing Weiss' line of thought. "But the actual taste isn't that bad."

 **She looks a bit disappointed. I should have been surprised ...I'm sorry.**

 **"The starch syrup that I know is colorless and transparent, I didn't know what this was."**

 **"Noble-sama, the colorless transparent syrups are high-class items made using expensive grains and sugars, this one is intended for commoners and uses sweet potatoes, Gabo fruits and malts so it's light brown."**

 **The uncle seller interrupted with overreaction.**

 **Who's a noble? He didn't say it to Zena-san only.**

 **"Mister, I am commoner you know. I got to drink the colorless and transparent syrup from an acquaintance long ago. I didn't know that it's a luxury."**

 **I mean, it's 200 yen a pop at the festival.**

"So that must mean someone from Satou's world introduced it to this world and it got classified as a high-class item," Blake muttered as she rolled the thought around in her mind for a bit.

 **Afterward, we enjoy ourselves by going around various stalls while plodding the crowds. It's a good afternoon.**

"It really needs to work on plot development," Glynda stated blandly as she wiped her mouth with a napkin Fox had handed her. "It has potential, but it really is too slow of a story."

"Yeah, it can get kind of boring." Ruby agreed.

(TO BE CONTINUED)


	15. Reading 2 - 5

As the students all got settled into their seats after a brief break Fox pulled out the Death March book causing JNPR and RWBY to groan while Coco and Velvet looked around in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Velvet asked curiously.

"This story is so boring!" Nora whined as she buried herself into Ren's side.

"It's excessively slow-paced." Ren elaborated with a blank expression.

"So…why are you still reading it?" Coco asked whilst raising an eyebrow.

"We have to finish the current volume," Yang grumbled as she crossed her arms and slumped in her seat.

 **Satou's here. "Every cloud has a silver lining", I'm contemplating such phrase.** ****

 **The peaceful afternoon I enjoyed yesterday completely changed.** ****

 **Well then, the afternoon series, troubles arc will begin...**

"Oh gods, is it like that the entire time?" Coco asked while groaning into her hands.

"Yes." The others all responded in sync. ****

 **A little distance away from the street stalls, there's a Parion temple.** **  
** **In the east street, there are only street stalls in the main street.** ****

 **There are some people gathered in front of the temple.** ****

 **"I wonder what happen?"** **  
** **"Let's check it for a bit."**

Velvet's face twitched as the words repeated themselves in her mind. "Could we just burn it?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm afraid not." Fox shook his head with a wry smile. ****

 **Zena-san rushes over there. Seeing this quick change of pace, she's really a soldier.** ****

 **Zena-san asks what happen to the big priestess' attendant from yesterday.** **  
** **Zena-san is flapping her hand it around. She seems to be grateful for something.** ****

 **I wonder what they're talking about.** ****

 **When I got closer as I walked, I only heard the latter half of the story.** **  
** **By the way, the conversation that I've heard,** ****

 **"...then how about the Garleon temple on the east street. The temple there also has military contact so medical treatment shouldn't be a problem. It's on the east street but you're accompanied by a man so strange fellows probably won't approach you."** **  
** **"Yes, even like this, I'm a magician soldier. I'd beat playboys who try to pick me up no matter how many of them come."**

"This is…" Coco trailed off as she made a rotating motion with her hands.

"It drones on and on." Weiss declared as she looked for anything else to occupy her time with. "Normally I wouldn't mind a slower-paced story if it still moved the plot along, but this doesn't even do that."

"Yeah, I can see what you mean." Velvet muttered as she rubbed one of her ears idly. ****

 **From Zena-san, it seems that the priestess is in the middle of meeting with envoys from the royal capital temple. Moreover, since the priestess is only able to use magic for healing injury, light poison and illness, we're forced to go to the other referred temple.** ****

 **...He's just passing the buck!** ****

 **In the end, we're going to the Garleon temple on the east street.** ****

 **It's not like I'm dissatisfied you know?** **  
** **Even if I got used to it, walking the European-style city together with a plainly cute girl like this, it's quite enjoyable!**

"Plainly cute?" Ruby asked tilting her head. "What does that mean?"

"Hell if I know Rubes." Yang shrugged her shoulders as the others made similar motions. ****

 **Along the way, about 100 meters away, a public park is there.** ****

 **I thought that it was just a lawn with weeds, but it's cut short and in the square, some old couples carrying baby are resting, and around 10 young people are practicing martial arts.** ****

 **"Zena-san, what kind of training is in the military?"** ****

 **I want to hear it somehow.**

"There's no emotional connection or investment in this," Jaune complained as he threw his head back and sighed. "Why should we care about any of this information they're dumping on us?"

"Now, now Jaune let's be nice." Pyrrha urged with a small smile on her face. ****

 **"That's right~, I think it's the same training as soldiers everywhere, but for magic soldiers, it's concerning preservation of magic power. We take care to maintain the state where we can use magic at its best."** ****

 **Variation in training huh?** **  
** **Certainly, MP-less magicians are useless.** ****

 **"Magic soldiers and magicians each assigned different roles in accordance with their element. I can only speak from the viewpoint of military, but except for fire element, we don't usually use other elements for attacking."** ****

 **Certainly something like torturing by fire is certainly suitable for attack. But you can also use it to heat bath you know?**

"A bath?" Coco asked looking at her juniors.

"He obsesses over weird things like that," Blake explained. ****

 **"As for my wind, it's used for protection from arrows, Wind Protection, defending a castle from castle breaker hammer with (Air Cushion), or transmitting instruction with (Whisper), various useful things like those. If we use (Fly) then scouting will be easy, but the Earl doesn't have anyone who can use it."** ****

 **That reminds me, Zena-san's goal was to fly through the sky, isn't it?** ****

 **"If you manage to fly, then it'd be nice to have a date in the sky~"** ****

 **I was joking, but Zena-san turns red to her neck and says "P, please leave it to me" while fumbling her words.** ****

 **It's cute, but I'm worried if she's ever going to be deceived by a bad man~**

"There's just something annoying about the way he talks in his mind," Weiss growled.

"Yeah… it's really punchable." Nora agreed as she slammed a fist into an open palm. ****

 **In the shades of the roadside trees, several cats are curling around. Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen wild cats since I come here.** ****

 **"That cat is cute~."** ****

 **Zena-san looks like she'll run there if left alone.** **  
** **I'm of cat's faction too, that's why I can't let cats' afternoon nap to be disturbed!** **  
** **So I bring up this talk.** ****

 **"That reminds me, there are no wild dogs in this city."** **  
** **"There's a rumor that wild dogs if seen, will become meals for the people of the slum..."** **  
** **"It's a lie, isn't it?"** **  
** **"Yes, it's a lie.** **  
** **But a rumor like that do exist, it seems that ripe Gabo fruits eaten with dog are quite addicting. So, ever since that fruit began to be consumed, wild dogs disappeared."** ****

 **Gabo fruits appear again. Have some restraint!**

"Doggies no!" Ruby screamed in horror as a person firmly in the dog faction.

Blake kept her own thoughts on the matter to herself seeing as Ruby was so torn up about it while Yang comforted her. 'Dumb mutts' she thought silently.

"Blake your hatred of dogs is showing through." Velvet pointed out causing the Cat Faunus to cough. ****

 **People catching sights of hunters going to the meat processing plant in the east street with their dog partners seems to be the root of that rumor.** ****

 **"Punishment for the demon's kin! Receive blessing by striking the demon with these holy stoooones!"** ****

 **Halfway into the east street, we're hearing a faint voice verging on falsetto like it's coming from an old man. There are also voices of a lot of people.** ****

 **On the square from the alley turn, there's a fat middle-aged man priest standing in an expensive-looking pedestal.** **  
** **With bloodshot eyes, bubbles fly from his mouth.**

"Ew…" the entire room recoiled in disgust at the imagery. ****

 **"O people with virtue!** **Do you remember the divine punishment also known as Star Fall from the other day?"** **  
** **"Oooo!"** **  
** **"We remember!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** ****

 **Isn't about half of the shouting people are faking it?** ****

 **"Furthermore! Furthermore!** **Yesterday, the Earl's castle had been hit by an attack of the demon lord's executive!"** **  
** **"Oh, Gods!"** **  
** **"Please save us, hero-sama!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** ****

 **Shouting is a good way to relieve stress huh.**

"This seems kind of bad doesn't it?" Jaune pointed out.

"They're all just mindlessly begging for someone to save them." Ren sighed "They're lucky that the Grimm don't exist in their world."

"Yeah, they'd be overrun immediately." Coco nodded her head. ****

 **"This is a sign of the dimming of the god's divine protection!** **Acquire blessings! O people with virtue!** **Those who gain blessings will be protected from disaster!"** **  
** **"Priest-sama! Please save us!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"Blessings!"** ****

 **Such cheap people.** ****

 **"Acquires blessing! Do you understand people! Blessings!"** **  
** **"Blessings!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"Please teach us!"** ****

 **This town's people would be easily deceived by fraudulent calls or shady pyramid scheme.**

Weiss frowned and shook her head. "What nonsense." She muttered, "They're panicking so much that they can't even think for themselves." ****

 **"Look at those fellows!"** ****

 **The fat priest point at the back of the square.** ****

 **"Those fellows are demi-human, the washout of the demon, no, the kin of the demon lord!** **Give divine punishment to those fellows and receive blessings!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"KILL!"** ****

 **Oi, oi agitator.** ****

 **"Wait!** **People of virtue!** **Murder is prohibited by the law of the kingdom. Wait!"** **  
** **"What should we do, priest-sama!"** **  
** **"KILL!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** ****

 **There are a lot of people who are just clamoring.** ****

 **"Killing is prohibited!** **With these holy stones hit the demon's kin and receive blessings."**

"Hey… aren't those girls the ones Yang showed us pictures of?" Pyrrha asked as she squinted her eyes trying to get a clearer picture. Beside her, Jaune chuckled seeing this silly side of his partner. ****

 **"Priest-sama!"** **  
** **"Give us the stones~!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** ****

 **I look at the direction the fat priest points to. Three beastkin girls are there.** ****

 **"But it's not free! Receive the blessings using your own money!"** ****

 **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"Blessings!"** ****

 **Dog, Cat, and Lizard beastkin girls are huddling together.**

"They are the girls in the pictures huh?" Yang frowned seeing their situation. "I really want to beat that fake priest."

"Agreed," Weiss growled. "How could you stone something so cute?"

Blake and Velvet coughed reminding everyone about the Faunus. ****

 **"The holy stones are 1 copper coin each! For this special occasion, you can get 6 stones for one big copper coin!"** ****

 **Ah, the voices from the people stop. What a calculating populace~** ****

 **"What's wrong!** **Pious men and women!** **There's a limit on these holy stones! Those who receive blessings are those who act fast!"** ****

 **"We'll buy it!"** **  
** **"Please sell it to me!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** ****

 **They sure are weak with limited edition.**

"Quite commenting about stupid things and stop them!" Ruby yelled.

"She's pretty fired up. Ain't she?" Coco asked seeing Ruby truly angry.

"You weren't here yet, but the last chapter, Satou let a bunch of soldiers die because he didn't want to stand out," Yang explained getting incensed looks from the two older students. ****

 **"Buy it from my disciples here!** **Line up!** **If you don't properly line up, you won't get the blessings!"** ****

 **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"Line up!"** ****

 **Fat priest, did you just use mind manipulation magic?** ****

 **People who have bought the holy stones unreservedly throw it at the beast girls. They don't hesitate there.** ****

 **Eh~~~? Are you serious?** ****

 **"I cannot watch this!"** ****

 **Zena-san pushes her way through the crowds running to the fat priest's place.** **  
** **I was taken aback and late to respond.**

"Yeah, I bet it's surprising to someone who only acts on logic and self-interest," Blake grumbled

"I hate how he acts like all of these actions taking place around her are so surprising," Nora growled. ****

 **"Kill the demi-human!"** **  
** **"Oooooo!"** **  
** **"Punishment for the demon kin!"** ****

 **The people are heating up and sporadically hit the beast kin girls with the stones.** **  
** **The lizard girl is protecting the smaller dog and catgirls.** ****

 **Now then, it's easy to interrupt this from the front, but if the same thing happens again later then there is no meaning to it.** ****

 **Detailed information from the AR comes up like usual when I look at the beast kin girls.** ****

 **This is!** ****

 **I quickly chew through the information I've found.** **  
** **Then, it should be somewhere.** ****

 **There!** ****

 **I investigate the guy's information and is convinced.** **  
** **With this, I should manage somehow!** ****

 **I whip my gray brain cells to explore the best solution...**

"Oh, is he actually going to do something? Not sit there and be a little bitch but do something?" Ruby asked with a heated look as her friends looked at her in shock. "Hm?" she asked noticing their looks. "Is there something on my face?" she asked sweetly getting swift shakes of the head from her friends.

Fox blinked as he rubbed his eyes. "I could've sworn you became very…blocky? For a moment there."

"Huh…weird." Ruby shrugged her shoulders eventually dismissing the thought as she looked around the room. "Wait is the chapter over already?"

"Yes, it is."

"So short!" the entire room shouted in surprise.


End file.
